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Healthy Teaching Makes Healthy Old Men Titus 2:1–2 · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: As we begin chapter two, we'll look at verses one
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  Speaker 1: and two. But as for you, speak what fits with
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  Speaker 1: healthy teaching, namely that older men be sober minded, dignified,
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  Speaker 1: self controlled, healthy, in faith, in love, and in steadfastest.
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  Speaker 1: And then he's going to turn to the older women.
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  Speaker 1: So Father, as we ponder Paul's concern that the older men,
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  Speaker 1: the mature men, comport themselves in a certain way, grant
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  Speaker 1: us to understand how that is and why that is,
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  Speaker 1: and how it might apply to us, whether old or young.
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  Speaker 1: I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Remember he's just
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  Speaker 1: finished now saying that this is why I left you
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  Speaker 1: in crete, Titus, so that you might put what remained
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  Speaker 1: into order, and to point elders in every town as
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  Speaker 1: I directed you. Then he gives the qualifications for elders,
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  Speaker 1: and he points out some of the kinds of problem
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  Speaker 1: people that he has to deal with, or Titus will
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  Speaker 1: have to deal with. So the overarching statement is I
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  Speaker 1: want you to put things into order. And I think
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  Speaker 1: what we have here as we begin chapter two is
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  Speaker 1: a few specifics of the kind of order. The seemliness
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  Speaker 1: of the behavior of different groups comes into play. As
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  Speaker 1: for you, now, you're the one I'm leaving there. Speak.
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  Speaker 1: It's mainly a word ministry speak. And what you're to
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  Speaker 1: speak is and it's not a list of things. It's
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  Speaker 1: a kind of thing. What fits, what is suitable, what
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  Speaker 1: is appropriate. That's the moral category here. It's not a list.
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  Speaker 1: It's a kind of behavior that accords with healthy teaching.
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  Speaker 1: That's really significant because while he's going to give very
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  Speaker 1: specific illustrations of what he means, he's going to say
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  Speaker 1: so reminded, dignified, self controlled, healthy in faith and love insteadfastness. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: as every person who's lived long enough knows, every pastor knows,
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  Speaker 1: there are hundreds and hundreds of situations for old men,
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  Speaker 1: old women, young men, young women where the path to
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  Speaker 1: be taken is not specified with any precision in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and we're left to make wisdom choices, or, as it
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  Speaker 1: says here, fitness choices. That's why that word is so important.
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  Speaker 1: You might say, just like you can misuse proverbs in
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament. You know, it says like the the
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  Speaker 1: legs of a lame man that are hanging useless, So
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  Speaker 1: is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Well, that's
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  Speaker 1: true with virtually all biblical teaching. If you don't use
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  Speaker 1: it right, in other words, to find what fits with it,
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  Speaker 1: then you'll make a hash out of it, make a
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  Speaker 1: mess out of it. So speak what is fitting, suitable,
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  Speaker 1: appropriate with healthy teaching. That's a very favorite phrase, usually
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  Speaker 1: translated sound doctrine, but literally sound means healthy, and the
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  Speaker 1: word is teaching life giving. I think that means teaching
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  Speaker 1: that makes a person spiritually, emotionally, relationally healthy, living a
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  Speaker 1: life that is life. Indeed, there's a a use of
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  Speaker 1: it over here in First Timothy that shows, I think
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  Speaker 1: what fitting with it means. Here's one Timothy one nine
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  Speaker 1: to eleven. The law is not laid down for the just,
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  Speaker 1: but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, and
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  Speaker 1: sinners and whatever else. He makes a long list here
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  Speaker 1: of sins and whatever else is contrary to not fitting
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  Speaker 1: with healthy teaching. Same phrase. Then he defines it healthy
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  Speaker 1: teaching is teaching which accords with is in accordance with
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel. A gospel, the Gospel of the glory of
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  Speaker 1: the happy God. So everything starts with God redials himself
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  Speaker 1: as glorious in Christ who dies in order to obtain
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  Speaker 1: for us a gospel a good news, and that entire, glorious, deep,
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  Speaker 1: rich complex of realities makes up a body of teaching
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  Speaker 1: that every other kind of teaching should accord with. Right,
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  Speaker 1: if you're going to have healthy teaching, it is teaching
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  Speaker 1: that accords with God, accords with his glory, accords with
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  Speaker 1: his gospel, accords with his happiness. Or here's another way
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  Speaker 1: that Paul works out what is healthy about teaching. If
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  Speaker 1: anyone teaches this is six three one Timothy six three
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  Speaker 1: and four. If anyone teaches a different teaching and does
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  Speaker 1: not agree with the healthy words of our Lord Jesus
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  Speaker 1: Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he's puffed up.
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  Speaker 1: So there you've got teaching that accordse with godliness and
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  Speaker 1: healthy words of the Lord Jesus. So not only did
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  Speaker 1: Jesus die and rise again to provide a gospel of
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  Speaker 1: deliverance from sin, he also said things, And they're gathered
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  Speaker 1: in the gospels, And when they're all gathered together and
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  Speaker 1: understood properly, they provide a test case for what's healthy.
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  Speaker 1: Things should agree with the words of the Lord Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Things should agree with what produces godliness, reverence, devotion, So
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  Speaker 1: speak Titus what fits with healthy teaching, which accords with
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  Speaker 1: the words of Jesus, the work of Jesus, the good
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  Speaker 1: news of the glory of the happy God. Then he
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  Speaker 1: gets specific that older men. So he's going to address
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  Speaker 1: the older men, and he's concerned, evidently that they might
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  Speaker 1: be falling into silliness, a kind of frivolousness that's not so,
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  Speaker 1: it's not dignified or worthy of respect or noble. Different
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  Speaker 1: connotations of this word here or self controlled, and the
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  Speaker 1: word self controlled here. This particular word for self control
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  Speaker 1: is not like the word for self controlled in the
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  Speaker 1: Works of the Flesh in Galatians five. That self control
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  Speaker 1: means control of your lust, especially your sexual nust. This
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  Speaker 1: self control means not given to impulsive thinking. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: your thoughtfulness is so careful and reasoned and under the
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  Speaker 1: control of your mind that you're not impulsive. So those
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  Speaker 1: those three traits. Sober means you see what's really the
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  Speaker 1: What would he have in mind when he says see
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  Speaker 1: what's really there? Sober people are people whose minds are awake,
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  Speaker 1: and I would say primarily awake. This these older men
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  Speaker 1: have long been schooled in healthy teaching. Their minds are
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  Speaker 1: seeing the entire world through the lens of this healthy teaching.
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  Speaker 1: It moves them to walk free from silliness and immaturity
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  Speaker 1: and frivolousness, and be worthy of dignified respect from other people.
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  Speaker 1: And it enables them to think in such a way
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  Speaker 1: that they're not given to impulsive ideas. Now he sums
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  Speaker 1: the rest of their lives up by saying, this healthy
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  Speaker 1: teaching produces healthy people be healthy in faith. He doesn't
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  Speaker 1: say it's healthy faith, it is, I think, But he says,
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  Speaker 1: I want these old men to be healthy people, relationally healthy,
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  Speaker 1: mentally healthy, spiritually healthy, doctrinely healthy, healthy in every way
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  Speaker 1: that a Christian would be healthy. And it's in faith,
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  Speaker 1: in love, and in steadfastness. By holding fast to healthy teaching.
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  Speaker 1: His faith is made healthy and strong. By holding fast
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  Speaker 1: to healthy teaching. His love is made healthy and strong.
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  Speaker 1: Beholding fast to healthy teaching, his perseverance and endurance insteadfastness
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  Speaker 1: is made healthy and strong. And you might you know,
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  Speaker 1: I did a double take here when I said, surely
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  Speaker 1: he's going to say faith, love, and hope, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the great the great three, Faith, hope, and love, And
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  Speaker 1: he says steadfastness. But ah, maybe he means hope, because
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  Speaker 1: consider this similar passage in First Thessalonians one three. We
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  Speaker 1: remember before our God and Father your work of faith,
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  Speaker 1: your labor of love, and your steadfastness of hope. So
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  Speaker 1: you have faith, love and hope here. But it's work, labor,
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  Speaker 1: and steadfastness endurance. And so the fact that this word
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  Speaker 1: is used here instead of the word hope, my guess
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  Speaker 1: is for early Christians who were familiar with the way
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  Speaker 1: the Apostles spoke about faith, hope, and love, would when
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  Speaker 1: they hear steadfastness, say, old man, hang in there all
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  Speaker 1: the way to the in because you have a great hope.
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  Speaker 1: So I think the main takeaway here is that healthy
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  Speaker 1: teaching is the foundation of so much in this letter,
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  Speaker 1: and the older men are to have the kind of
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  Speaker 1: sober mindedness that enables them to not be drunken with
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  Speaker 1: foolish ideas, but to be soberly in remembrance of all
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  Speaker 1: the healthy teaching they've heard, and thus able to be
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  Speaker 1: free from impulsiveness and walk in a manner that's respectful,
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  Speaker 1: glorifying the truth of healthy teaching, which reflects the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of the glory of the Happy God, and thus becoming
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  Speaker 1: healthy men in faith in love, and in steadfastness, and yes,
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  Speaker 1: the steadfastness of hope.