Last week we looked at what Paul wrote to Titus about the ever present threat of false teachers. We finished with concluding that while there are many defenses against false teaching the best antidote is true teaching. If all you do is react against their sometimes subtle and often blatant distortions of the truth you will find yourselves caught up in their nets. So, Paul begins this chapter with the best antidote possible to lies and that is “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.”

1.  Sound means healthy and the word here is one we see often in Paul’s letter to Titus. Some have said that Timothy may have suffered from weak health and that is why Paul told him to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake. The repetition of “sound” here is because Titus was surrounded by unsound teaching and what Ross Douthat calls “bad religion”. It is not always outright heresy that we would recognize immediately but merely twisting the truth away from orthodox. In other words, not breaking the bone because that would set off alarms but bending it over time away from the truth. That is the world in which Titus lived – and we do as well. We find unhealthy teaching everywhere we turn.

2.  But sound doctrine does not mean to become doctrinaire. Too often that is what happens when people are subject to a constant stream of half-truths, spin and theological trickery. They settle on one interpretation or point of view and they hold on to it exclusively. That is not teaching. That is indoctrination and this is not Paul’s advice. He means for Titus to teach truth but not to become fanatical about a particular truth. I like the quote by Paulo Coelho, “Fanaticism is the only way to put an end to the doubts that constantly trouble the human soul.” Titus is to teach truth and there is nothing in truth that is fanatical.

3.  What and who is he to teach? First, he is to teach – and here the word means “charge” – older men. Again, as we saw two weeks ago. The word here for older is not “geron” but “presbytos” and there is an important distinction. The first describes one who has become old and the second describes one who is becoming wise with years and experience.

Charge these elders to be sober – or temperate. Again, this does not mean teach against drinking or even apply only to drinking too much but teach them to not act as if they had been drinking even if they have not. Teach them not to be outrageous and unpredictable. Teach them not to weave across lanes as we put it before. The word is “nephalos” and it means an elder is one who ought to have got his values and guiding principles right, and he ought to be able to assess what he enjoys for their true worth. While he discovers new joys in life he is not thrill seeking any longer.

Charge these elders to be serious – and the word is “semnos”. It doesn’t mean dour or humorless but “the man who knows that he lives in the light of eternity, and that before so very long he will leave the society of men for the society of God.” A serious man is one who has a longer view looking back but also a longer view looking forward. I don’t know when this change comes in life and it may never come for some but I suspect you all know exactly what this means. You begin to reflect more. The word “legacy” comes up more often in conversations. People ask us frequently what we want our life to have accomplished and sometimes we are surprised by why they are asking us and even more surprised by our response.

When I was young I was taught C.T. Studd’s poem “Only One Life” was held up as the standard for our lives:

Only One Life

By C.T. Studd

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

But with the best of intentions what that poem drilled into our heads was only those things in our life we could define as done for Christ would make any difference. That only reinforced the thought that those who did not live in the full-time Christian world were missing out and, in eternity, would have less to show. It’s not true. We live in the light of eternity as we grow older but this does not mean that only those things easily labeled as Christian activity have value.

Charge these elders to be prudent. Here we see the word “sophron” again that Paul used earlier. Prudent does not mean risk-averse or overly careful or living in fear. It is one with passions and desires but who has learned to control them. They are not stoic and without feelings. In fact, their passions may be deeper than ever but they have learned to make them productive and not explosive.

4.  What are the qualities that Titus is to teach these men?

Charge them to be healthy in faith: As we grow older our trust in God should grow and not decline. Even though we are exposed to more and more that would cause us to doubt or fear we can intentionally put more trust in God. This is not faith dependent on good things happening. It need not be what we read in Job: “Though He slay me yet will I trust Him.” But, it is faith that grows and does not shrink back from the trials of life.

Charge them to be healthy in love: “But the years ought to bring, not an increasing intolerance, but an increasing tolerance and sympathy for the views and with the mistakes of others. We should develop confidence and patience and not expect others to become mature faster than we did ourselves.

Charge them to be healthy in endurance: We should be able to bear more and more – not less. We sometimes expect parts of life to become easier and the load to become lighter but Paul is saying we should not look for that. We should, instead, accept that we are prepared by the experiences and challenges of our lives to bear even more. Obstacles do not disappear. But, the ability to endure only grows.

All three of these taken together describe a life with genuine gravity and depth. It is just the opposite of what David describes in Psalm 62:9. “Lowborn men are but a breath, the elite are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing.” Titus is to charge older men with the responsibility of being men of substance and depth.

5.  “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.”

I am not going to be the one to define when a woman is older! However, there is a characteristic of older women here that is worth mentioning. She is to be reverent in the way she lives. It’s from this passage that Catholics derive the term “Reverend Mother” to describe the mother superior in a convent or order. You probably remember “Climb Every Mountain” in the Sound of Music and that wonderful scene with the light streaming in through the window as she sang.

I don’t believe Paul is saying all women should fit such an image but I do believe he is saying that women are to be revered because of their reverent behavior. They are to be treated differently than men – with special attention and care.

“Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children..” Why would anyone need to be trained to love? The word for train means to remind them over and over what it means to fulfill their duty to love their husbands and children. It is not romantic love or love that comes easily. It is difficult sometimes. It does not always come naturally and often it is nothing but the fulfillment of a duty and promise but that is what real love is. It is, as Rollo May said, an act of the will. It is often different between women and men, isn’t it? Men are prone to see love as romantic and when the romance goes then their hearts go cold. Ironically, men want emotion. I think women see it differently. Their love is built to last through the hard times if they have been mentored by older women and not magazines. I know that was true in our early marriage. Carol had the benefit of our pastor’s wife, Eva Toms. She was as practical, down to earth and straightforward a woman as either of us had ever met. And she loved her husband deeply. We could not have met her at a better time in our lives.

6.  Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good.” It doesn’t seem fair that the older men have so much more to do than the younger. But, that is because the one thing is so difficult! The word here is “self-mastery” and the implication is it takes most of the early part of your life just to learn that one thing. Ernest Hemingway, not exactly a good example of self-mastery said, “There are some things which cannot be learned quickly and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things and because it takes a man’s life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave. The book of Proverbs (16:32) says, “He that ruleth himself is greater than he that takes a city.” It is the work of a lifetime and better to get started when we are young.

But Paul uses an additional word here. He says “encourage”. Look at Ephesians 6:4. “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” There is a place for training and instruction but young people need more. They need encouragement. As well, look at Colossians 3:21. “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. The word for exasperate is the word for provoke to the point of anger. How is a young man to learn self-controlled if his parents are stirring him up to anger and bitterness? He will not. That is why it is so important for Titus as the pastor to be an encourager for young men. That is what Barnabas was for the fiery and doctrinaire young man named Saul…and in time he became Paul and the author of this letter. He understood the importance of encouragement in life.

7.  How is Titus to encourage those young men? Not so much with words, but with his own example. We all know that is how young people learn best. So, Paul gives Titus advice on how he is to teach with both example and words.

With integrity: The word means pure motives without an agenda other than to strengthen, correct and comfort. But, it also means incorruptible and imperishable. We are to be examples and teachers of the things that last and not things of the moment. “The central things of the faith will last a man a life-time. As soon as a man becomes a propagandist either for his own ideas or some special interest he ceases to be an effective preacher or teacher of the word of God.”

With seriousness: The word means with dignity and gravity. It’s not the same as stuffiness or false sense of importance. It means our examples and our words encourage young people to become people of substance and not lightweights as David described in Psalm 62. I had a conversation with a campus minister this week and he said his concern for young men and women is they come to college well-equipped with the skills of learning that they focus on what will prepare them for a professionally successful life but they are often weightless spiritually and emotionally. They are fragile and that is why they need safe zones and are so intimidated by ideas other than their own. At Brown University, a number of students were upset about the results of a debate between opposing ideas and protested to the President. In response, a “safe space” was created for students upset by the debate; “the space included cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets, and a video of puppies.” They have no gravity. No resilience. No substance.

Finally, with healthy speech: And so we come back to the word that Paul uses over and over in this letter: soundness. It may well be one of the great themes we see. Sound speech is speech that leads to healthiness. It does not tear down. It does not stir up to anger. It does not encourage bitterness. It prompts people to think seriously about life. As you know, I love Annie Dillard’s writing and she said this about writing in general:

“Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients. That is, after all, the case. What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon? What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality.”

So it is with sound teaching. Done well, it leads those who hear to right living, courage, trust, love and a life of substance. This is the counterbalance to a world that is bent toward false teaching and bad religion.