Lesson #2 - Clover Sites
Titus, Lesson #2
Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking
Titus 2
ACCOUNTABILITY
What three fellowships do we have scheduled for the next three months? Who will invite every member? Who will help invite every prospect? Who will help plan the party?
OPEN
Let’s each share your name and who is one elderly person you greatly respect.
DIG
1. Overview. Let me make five headings on the board: Older men, older women, young women, young men, slaves. Look over this passage. What are some things each group of people need to hear?
2. Older men are to be temperate? Is anyone else to be temperate? What about these other qualities? Do they apply to all as well?
3. Look at verses 5, 8, and 10. What do these verses have in common?
In a series of moral exhortations in Titus 2:1–3:2 we find three instances where Paul emphasized the importance of our Christian testimony before unbelievers. In verse 5, he said, “that the word of God may not be reviled.” In verse 8: “so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” And in verse 10: “so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.”
Paul was obviously concerned about the witness by life of the believers. In Romans he said to the Jews, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (2:24, NIV), and he must have had a similar concern about the Cretan Christians to whom Titus ministered.
What would Paul say about us today? As the unbelieving world becomes increasingly hostile to true Christianity, it will be even more eager to find inconsistencies in our lives so it can ridicule God and His Word.
More than four hundred years ago, the great reformer John Calvin voiced a similar concern: “Everything bad [the ungodly] can seize hold of in our life is twisted maliciously against Christ and His teaching. The result is that by our fault God’s sacred name is exposed to insult. The more closely we see ourselves being watched by our enemies, the more intent we should be to avoid their slanders, so that their ill-will strengthens us in the desire to do well.”
As believers we should seek to be exemplary in every aspect of our lives, doing our best for the sake of Christ and His gospel. Our work, play, driving, and shopping should all be done with a view that unbelievers will be attracted to the gospel that they see at work in our lives. — Bridges, J. (2008). Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey. (T. Womack, Ed.) (p. 50). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
4. This chapter is, in a way, about witnessing. What do we learn about witnessing from this chapter?
During World War II my father was sent with the British army to the Far East. In 1941 he was captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell into their hands. The conditions in the prisoner-of-war camps run by the Japanese in those times are illustrated by the fact that of 380 men of my father’s company who went into Changi Jail in Singapore my father was one of only twenty-seven who came out alive at the end of the war. The conditions were atrocious and remain infamous.
The situation for allied prisoners in the renowned prison camp on the River Kwai were so abysmal and the death rate so high that the men became almost like animals in their selfishness and desperate struggle to survive. They thought nothing of stealing food or water from dying mates. ‘He was going to die anyway,’ would be the justification. It was every man for himself.
But in the midst of all this eyewitnesses tell us that a kind of ‘miracle’ happened. Men began to change. They began to stop stealing and start giving. The selfishness of the struggle for survival gave way to kindness and thoughtfulness for others. It all began with a Scotsman named Angus McGilvray who literally gave his life for his friend. The friend was very ill and about to die. Someone had stolen his blanket; Angus gave him his own. Someone stole the man’s food; Angus replaced it with his food ration. The result was that Angus’s friend got better, but Angus died. ‘Greater love has no one than this,’ said Jesus, ‘that he lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15:13). Angus McGilvray paid the price of greatest love.
This story began to get around the camp. It was the talking point among the prisoners. As the story spread it began to make people think. They were confronted with an example of Christian love. It somehow touched their hearts. And men began to change. Amid the worst possible conditions, where you could be forgiven for thinking that people almost had the right to steal and be selfish, love broke through. Instead of every man for himself, Christian kindness emerged, like a miracle. — Benton, J. (1997). Straightening Out the Self-Centered Church: The Message of Titus. Welwyn Commentary Series (pp. 73–74). Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.
5. Verse 1. What does sound doctrine mean in this context?
There is a lifestyle which is never out of date, which is relevant to every culture, which is right whatever the circumstances, for it is eternal life made visible in this world. Paul calls it ‘godliness’. What Paul is telling Titus in the first verse of the second chapter of his letter is that this lifestyle flows out of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This lifestyle of godliness is both the logical consequence and living result of the good news of forgiveness and new life in Christ being accepted into our hearts. It is the healthy living expression of the gospel. He writes to Titus, ‘You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.’ — Benton, J. (1997). Straightening Out the Self-Centered Church: The Message of Titus. Welwyn Commentary Series (p. 74). Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.
6. What is the relationship between doctrine and behavior?
Thus Paul drove home again what had been the theme of this entire section (Titus 2:1-10): a believer’s behavior is to be in accord with or befitting sound doctrine. — Walvoord, J. F., & Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 765). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
7. Verse 2 commands older men. What can we expect from life as we grow older?
Old age is often associated with such things as maturity, wisdom, and patience. Ideally, "Wisdom is with aged men, [and] with long life is understanding" (Job 12:12). But that is not always the case. Increased age typically brings decreased energy, diminished vision and hearing, more aches and pains, and often more depression, hopelessness, and cynicism. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes we are told, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, 'I have no delight in them'; before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop" (12:1-3).
As we grow older, change can become harder to accept. Life can become less fulfilling, less satisfying, and more disillusioning. It is easy to become a creature of habit, and the longer a habit is practiced, the more deeply entrenched and formidable it becomes. Besetting sins can become such an integral part of daily living that they cease to be recognized as sins at all.
For a Christian, however, old age should bring greater love for God, for the people of God, and for the sacred things of God. Those who have walked with Christ for many years should rejoice in that privilege and in the prospect of one day seeing Him face to face. A church should value and honor those who have spent many years in fellowship with the Lord, in the study of His Word, and in service to and through His church. A church is blessed when it has believers who can say with Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7) and who can pray, "O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth; and I still declare Thy wondrous deeds" (Ps. 71:17). — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Titus.
8. Can you think of examples of people who have served the Lord in old age?
Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead Israel out of bondage in Egypt and to the land of promise. But, like his poor speaking ability (Ex. 4:10-12), advanced age did not excuse him from the Lord's work.
At the age of 83—after having traveled some 250,000 miles on horseback, preached more than 40,000 sermons, and produced some 200 books and pamphlets—John Wesley regretted that he was unable to read and write for more than 15 hours a day without his eyes becoming too tired to work. After his 86th birthday, he admitted to an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning!
Godly older saints who bring strength, stability, and wisdom to a church should be cherished. Ancient Israel was told by the Lord, "You shall rise up before the grayheaded, and honor the aged" (Lev. 19:32; cf. Prov. 16:31). The godly are assured that they "will still yield fruit in old age" (Ps. 92:14) and that "the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day" (Prov. 4:18). — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Titus.
9. Do you think that the elderly are any more or less godly than younger folks?
In itself, however, old age does not make a believer more godly, more faithful, more satisfied, or more effective in service to God. As Paul's injunctions in this verse indicate, even older men sometimes need to be admonished to exemplify certain basic virtues.
Both the Old and New Testaments teach that older men and women, whether believers or not, are to be treated with special respect and consideration by those who are younger. That principle applied with special force in regard to children and their parents. As Paul pointed out to believers in Ephesus, the command to "honor your father and mother... is the first commandment with a promise" (Eph. 6:2; cf. Ex. 20:12). Under the old covenant, striking a parent was a capital offense (Ex. 21:15).
It is not, of course, that older people are beyond correction. But when an older person commits an offense, he is to be reproved with respect and care. "Do not sharply rebuke an older man," Paul warned Timothy, "but rather appeal to him as a father" (1 Tim. 5:1). — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Titus.
10. What does it mean to be temperate? How does your translation have it?
They must be sober. The word is nephalios (), and it literally means sober in contradistinction to given to over-indulgence in wine. The point is that when a man has reached years of seniority, he ought to have teamed what are, and what are not, true pleasures. The senior men should have teamed that the pleasures of self-indulgence cost far more than they are worth.
Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).
11. Is being temperate in anyone else’s list — old women, young men, etc.?
Third, older women are not to be enslaved to much wine, a strong phrase that refers to drunkenness. As many of them have done throughout history, older people on Crete sometimes turned to drink as a stimulant and a means of ameliorating the pains, frustrations, and loneliness of old age. Douloō means literally to be enslaved, "to be held and controlled against one's will," and addiction to much wine becomes more a prison than a means of escape. Worse still, an older believer who becomes so addicted brings dishonor to the Lord's name, sullies the reputation of the church, and, more often than not, leads others into following his or her ungodly example. — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Titus.
12. Verse 3 has instructions to older women. What was your grandmother like?
It is clear that in the early Church a most honoured and responsible position was given to the older women. E. F. Brown, who was himself a missionary in India and knew much about Anglo-Indian society in the old days, relates a most interesting thing. A friend of his on furlough in England was asked: "What is it you most want in India?" And his surprising answer was: "Grandmothers." In the old days there were few older women in Anglo-Indian society, because those engaged in the administration of the country almost invariably came to the end of their service and returned to Britain while still fairly young; and the lack of older women was a serious want. E. F. Brown goes on to say: "Old women play a very important part in society—how large a part one does not realize, till one witnesses a social life from which they are almost absent. Kindly grandmothers and sweet charitable old maids are the natural advisers of the young of both sexes." The older women to whom the years have brought serenity and sympathy and understanding have a part to play in the life of the Church and of the community which is peculiarly their own. — Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).
13. What are grandmothers supposed to be like?
Here the qualities which characterize them are laid down. Their demeanour must be such as befits those who are engaged in sacred things. As has been said: "They must carry into daily life the demeanour of priestesses in a temple." As Clement of Alexandria had it: "The Christian must live as if all life was a sacred assembly." It is easy to see what a difference it would make to the peace and fellowship of the Church, if it was always remembered that we are engaged in sacred things. Much of the embittered argument and the touchiness and the intolerance which all too frequently characterize church activities would vanish overnight.
They must not spread slanderous stories. It is a curious trait of human nature that most people would rather repeat and hear a malicious tale than one to someone's credit. It is no bad resolution to make up our minds to say nothing at all about people if we cannot find anything good to say.
The older women must teach and train the younger. Sometimes it would seem that the only gift experience gives to some is that of pouring cold water on the plans and dreams of others. It is a Christian duty ever to use experience to guide and encourage, and not to daunt and discourage. — Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).
14. Self-control shows up more than once. What good things come to those with self-control?
They were studying how a child learns to resist immediate gratification, and they found a creative new way to observe the process in four-year-old children. They would bring the children one at a time into a room, show them a marshmallow, and offer them a deal before leaving them alone in the room. The children could eat the marshmallow whenever they wanted to, but if they held off until the experimenter returned, they would get a second marshmallow to eat along with it. Some children gobbled the marshmallow right away; others tried resisting but couldn’t hold out; some managed to wait out the whole fifteen minutes for the bigger reward. The ones who succeeded tended to do so by distracting themselves, which seemed an interesting enough finding at the time of the experiments, in the 1960s.
They found that the ones who had shown the most willpower at age four went on to get better grades and test scores. The children who had managed to hold out the entire fifteen minutes went on to score 210 points higher on the SAT than the ones who had caved after the first half minute. The children with willpower grew up to become more popular with their peers and their teachers. They earned higher salaries. They had a lower body-mass index, suggesting that they were less prone to gain weight as middle age encroached. They were less likely to report having had problems with drug abuse. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney
15. What problems come to those who lack self-control?
Those traits might be expected of good students, certainly no big deal. But a study by University of Pennsylvania researchers suggests that self-discipline and self-denial could be a key to saving U.S. schools.
According to a recent article by Angela L. Duckworth and Martin E.P. Seligman in the journal Psychological Science, self-discipline is a better predictor of academic success than even IQ.
"Underachievement among American youth is often blamed on inadequate teachers, boring textbooks, and large class sizes," the researchers said. "We suggest another reason for students falling short of their intellectual potential: their failure to exercise self-discipline. . . . We believe that many of America's children have trouble making choices that require them to sacrifice short-term pleasure for long-term gain, and that programs that build self-discipline may be the royal road to building academic achievement." —
16. How do we develop self-control?
When psychologists isolate the personal qualities that predict “positive outcomes” in life, they consistently find two traits: intelligence and self-control. So far researchers still haven’t learned how to permanently increase intelligence. But they have discovered, or at least rediscovered, how to improve self-control.
He and his collaborators discovered that willpower, like a muscle, becomes fatigued from overuse but can also be strengthened over the long term through exercise. Since Baumeister’s experiments first demonstrated the existence of willpower, it has become one of the most intensively studied topics in social science (and those experiments now rank among the most-cited research in psychology). He and colleagues around the world have found that improving willpower is the surest way to a better life. They’ve come to realize that most major problems, personal and social, center on failure of self-control: compulsive spending and borrowing, impulsive violence, underachievement in school, procrastination at work, alcohol and drug abuse, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, chronic anxiety, explosive anger. Poor self-control correlates with just about every kind of individual trauma: losing friends, being fired, getting divorced, winding up in prison. It can cost you the U.S. Open, as Serena Williams’s tantrum in 2009 demonstrated; it can destroy your career, as adulterous politicians keep discovering. It contributed to the epidemic of risky loans and investments that devastated the financial system, and to the shaky prospects for so many people who failed (along with their political leaders) to set aside enough money for their old age. Ask people to name their greatest personal strengths, and they’ll often credit themselves with honesty, kindness, humor, creativity, bravery, and other virtues—even modesty. But not self-control. It came in dead last among the virtues being studied by researchers who have surveyed more than one million people around the world. Of the two dozen “character strengths” listed in the researchers’ questionnaire, self-control was the one that people were least likely to recognize in themselves. Conversely, when people were asked about their failings, a lack of self-control was at the top of the list. — Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney
17. Verse 10. What are some practical ways we as individuals can make the gospel attractive?
Evangelism is not what we tell people, unless what we tell is totally consistent with who we are. It is who we are that is going to make the difference.
If we do not truly enjoy our faith, nobody is going to catch the fire of enjoyment from us. If our lives are not totally centered on Christ, we will not be Christ-bearers for others, no matter how pious our words. —Madeleine L’Engle, A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Yearling, 1980) / Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 70). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
18. What can we do as a church to make the gospel attractive?
Titus 2:10: “So that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” Paul is speaking here to the character of a slave, but surely in all things we should be seeking to “make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”
When we drive through a neighborhood and see a house in disrepair, perhaps the paint peeling, the fence missing slats, the bushes needing trimming, we think to ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, that a little TLC is needed. Yet in our churches, we sometimes make excuses for unappealing facilities, saying we’re being good stewards of the Lord’s money or that God cares about more important things than paint on the walls. God does care about the more important things, but the more important things are what drive us to care about the rest. God has gifted some with an eye for color and design and decoration to make a pleasing, warm, inviting environment for people. Wouldn’t you think that God smiles, knowing His children are using the gifts He gave them, not just in their own homes, but first and foremost in the buildings where His children meet and worship Him? In the book of Haggai, God told the Israelites that they were to rebuild the temple. Yet the Israelites procrastinated. God approached them and said: “ ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? . . . Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the LORD.”[71]
The church is not just a building but God’s believing people. However, we believe the church building where God’s people worship should be attractive, pleasing, and welcoming to the world. I believe this is universally important. I’ve worshiped in the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and China, and each place, in their own way, created a “wow” environment. The key is being able to live in the tension between focusing too much on the place and not caring at all. Many third-world countries are known to put more care into the aesthetics of their places of worship than in their own homes. We are not biblically required to decorate in a specific way as God instructed in the Old Testament. The freedom is ours to choose the color of the walls, the texture of the carpeting, and the style of the furniture. But the goal of making it a “wow” church should still be there. The physical building you are holding church services in, whether it is a high school gym or a Gothic cathedral, can be made attractive to the people you desire to reach.
We formed what we call the Design Team that enjoys visiting other churches and getting ideas. The team consists of both professional and nonprofessional decorators. They enjoy brainstorming, shopping, painting, creating, and making the church aesthetically wow. — Harney, K. G., & Bouwer, B. (2011). The u-turn church. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
19. How much do externals matter—things like whether or not the building looks nice?
The sad truth is that many churches need a completely new building. They’ll never reach their community in the building they’re using. One pastor told me in frustration that he was praying, “God, let the fire fall!”
When my friend Larry DeWitt was called to pastor a church in southern California, he found a small, clapboard church building in a high-tech suburban area. Larry recognized that the age and style of the building were a barrier to reaching that community. He told the church leaders he’d accept the pastorate if they’d move out of the building and start holding services in a Hungry Tiger restaurant. The members agreed.
Today, after moving to different facilities, that church has grown to several thousand in attendance. It would have never grown that large if they had stayed in their original building. As I stated in chapter 1, the shoe must never tell the foot how big it can get. Saddleback used high school campuses for our seeker services for thirteen years. In order to make the best of what we had to work with we organized two quality control crews. The first crew would come in before 6 a.m. and set up forty-two different classrooms and a gymnasium. The set-up crew would diagram each classroom’s layout on the chalkboard before moving anything. That way everything could be reset in the right order by the take-down crew when they came in at 1 p.m. after all the services were over. Every classroom was vacuumed twice every Sunday—once at the beginning of the day and once after we’d finished using the rooms. It was hard work, but part of the price of growth.
The goal in all that we do to brighten up the environment is the same as what Paul said in Titus 2:10 (italics added): “. . . so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” — Warren, R. (2007). The purpose driven church: growth without compromising your message and mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
20. Have you known churches that made the gospel unattractive?
The group met in a medium-sized assembly hall with a wall of windows on one side and a bank of classrooms down the other. The first thing I noticed was the smell. The room smelled like … like old. The second thing that caught my attention was the clutter. Stuff was scattered everywhere. Sunday school literature. Bibles. Hymnals. Umbrellas. There was even a llama grazing on Cheerios in the corner. The blinds on the half-dozen windows were all pulled to varying heights. There was a bulletin board with a half-dozen flyers randomly tacked to it. The wall color was bad. The carpet needed replacing. Did I mention the smell? And no, there wasn’t really a llama in the corner.
This was an adult Sunday school assembly space. Grownups met in this room. For Bible study. After being in the environment for less than a minute, I knew one thing for certain: The people who meet in this room on Sundays have met here for so long they don’t see it anymore. The room is invisible to them. It’s not that they enjoy clutter. They don’t see it. But a newcomer would notice it immediately. I certainly did. The real tragedy from my perspective was that this adult ministry environment taught a series of lessons the Sunday school department wasn’t aware of.
• Lesson #1: We aren’t expecting guests.
• Lesson #2: What we are doing here is not all that important.
• Lesson #3: We expect somebody to clean up after us.
• Lesson #4: We don’t take pride in our church.
Think I’m being too harsh? Hoping I don’t visit your church anytime soon? If so, then this may be the most important section in the book for you to digest, and then teach your team. — Stanley, A. (2012). Deep and wide: creating churches unchurched people love to attend. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
21. What do you want to recall from today’s conversation?
22. How can we support one another in prayer this week?
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