SERMON OUTLINE:
• Wise words for employees (vs 9-10)
• Perfect grace for believers (vs 11-14)
• Important words to discharge (vs 15)
SERMON BODY:
ILL:
• A young minister, with very small children,
• Preached to his congregation on the theme,
• "10 ways to raise good and godly children ",
• Some years later, with his children entering their teens,
• He returned to his theme, but the same sermon was entitled:
• "10 suggestions for raising good and godly children".
• Several years later, with his children now in their late teens,
• The sermon got another airing, this time presented as,
• "Feeble hints for fellow strugglers"
• TRANSITION:
• Chapter 2 of Titus is about family relationships;
• It is about how we get along with each other in the family of God – the Church.
• We noted last week that in the first eight verses of chapter 2;
• The apostle Paul gives advice primarily to four different groups;
• 1st group: Wise words for older men (vs 2).
• 2nd group: Wise words for older women (vs 3-4).
• 3rd group: Wise words for young women (vs 4-5)
• 4th group: Wise words for young men (vs 6-8).
We noted that the apostle Paul:
• Is not saying these things mentioned only apply to that particular group,
• Because the principles mentioned will probably apply to all Christians;
• But here in these verses;
• The apostle gives an added emphasis to these particular groups.
• It is as if he saying these truths are for everyone;
• But then highlights and underlines them for certain age-groups.
• Who may struggle in certain areas or who needed some things emphasised.
Note:
• In verses 9-10 we have another particular group of people mentioned;
• I would like to have included them in my talk last week but time would not allow.
• So in verses 9-10 the next group of people mentioned are Christians who are slaves!
• Today we would apply these principles to employer – employee relationships.
RE: A QUICK WORD ON SLAVERY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
• Neither Jesus nor any of the apostles (including Paul),
• Is recorded as saying anything in opposition to the institution of slavery.
• Slavery was very much a part of life in Judea, Galilee,
• And in the rest of the Roman Empire during New Testament times.
• The experts tell us that as much as two thirds of the Roman empire were slaves;
• And before the first century it was as high as 90%.
• Now slavery in the first century was quite different;
• Than slavery as we think of it early American or English history.
• For one thing, Roman slaves were either taken as the spoils of war;
• Or were such because they sold themselves into slavery (known as "bond-servant").
• They were often well-educated and given apprenticeships and internships.
• And often it was the slave that was the "tutor" or "guide" of the masters children.
• Although the masters had absolute rights over their slaves,
• They generally showed them respect.
• Slaves could marry, accumulate wealth,
• Purchase their own freedom, run a business, etc.
• Cicero the Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer noted;
• That a slave could usually be set free within seven years;
• In any case, under Roman law a slave would normally be set free by age 30.
The New Testament does not promote or forbid slavery:
• It does have instructions to slaves on how to behave;
• And it also has instructions to masters on how to rightly treat their slaves;
• (Ephesians chapter 6 verses 5-9);
One final thing that is worth noting is this:
• In New Testament times there was only one place on planet earth;
• Where master and slave were considered equal;
• That was in the Church of Jesus Christ!
• Galatians chapter 3 verse 28:
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
• So in the Church of Jesus Christ master and slave were considered equal;
• But in society that was not yet the case;
• And into this situation Paul pens these words.
Note:
• For our study tonight I want to culturalise verses 9-10;
• And refer to Employer and employee, not slave and master.
(1). Wise Words For employees (vs 9-10).
“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 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.”
There are many different attitudes toward work:
• Some people hate to do it.
• Some love to do it.
• Some go to great lengths to avoid doing it.
• Some do it too much.
• There are many different attitudes toward work,
• But one thing remains constant: work must be done!
• Since the Garden of Eden;
• Everyone has worked or depended on someone else's work for their survival.
• Work sets a person's lifestyle;
• Where you live, when you sleep and eat, the time with family, even your dress.
• Another constant about work:
• Is the fact that God has a clear perspective on it;
• Both the Old and New Testament have a lot to say about this topic.
• The verses here in Titus talk to any Christian who has a boss;
• Or who make a living in the workplace.
Ill:
• Joke: The boss was concerned that his employees weren’t giving him enough respect,
• So he tried and old fashioned method of persuasion:
• He brought in a sign that said “I’m the Boss” and taped it to his door.
• After lunch, he noticed someone had taped another note under his sign.
• Which read: “Your wife called. She wants her sign back!”
• TRANSITION:
• The verses here in Titus talk to any Christian who has a boss;
• Or who make a living in the workplace.
• In these two verses the apostle Paul points out two areas;
• The first area he mentions in verse 9 has to do with diligence;
• The second area he mentions in verse 10 has to do with character.
• These areas will break or make our Christian witness at work.
• So it’s important we take note and make the effort to work on them!
(a). Diligence.
“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them,
not to talk back to them”
• Not everyone shows diligence and hard work in the workplace;
• Some people are skivers; they do just enough and no more.
• Some people of course like to play the system, get away with whatever they can.
Ill:
• Two men working in a factory were talking.
• One man said to his friend: “I know how to get some time off,”
• His friend replied: “How are you going to do that?”
• “Just watch and learn” he said, and climbed up on a high rafter.
• When the foreman walked by and saw him he said;
• “What he was doing up there?”
• To which the man replied, “I’m a lightbulb.”
• The worried foreman said “I think you need some time off,”
• And so the first man walked out of the factory.
• A few moments later the second man followed him.
• So the foreman shouted; “Where do you think you’re going?”
• The man responded: “You can’t expect me to work in the dark,”
• TRANSITION: The Christian should be diligent in their work;
• The Christian’s motivation for working is what Paul says in ;
• Colossians chapter 3 verse 24b: “It is the Lord Christ you are serving”
• Christian when you go to work tomorrow morning;
• Don’t forget - you are not just working for an earthly boss;
• But you are working for the King!
Ill:
• I heard the story of a Christian female surgeon;
• Who under the communist system was removed from her post as a surgeon;
• And was given another job in that same hospital cleaning toilets.
• She was now using her hands that had healed and help save life;
• To scrub toilet bowls and sinks and floors.
• Yet she is doing that job whole heartedly;
• She said: “I am cleaning the toilets as if Jesus was going to sit on them!”
• She has learnt the principle that her work is a service to God and not just to men.
Titus tells his readers to be ‘Subject to their bosses’:
• They should have the right attitude, trying to ‘please them’.
• Anyone can do a job half-heartedly or grudgingly;
• Christians ought to be different.
(B). Constraint.
• One of the ways we can be different (Christ-like) is in the way we use our tongues;
• The apostle says Christians should not ‘talk back’ all the time.
• Nothing cuts away at the morale of an organisation;
• Like an employee who harbours a negative spirit about the boss they work for,
• Or the people they work with, or the kind of job they do.
• Christian employees should not be known for being positive, encouragers;
• Not for being gossips or being rude;
• But for being honest and truthful.
Ill:
• One of my mentors is a man called Ivor Cooper.
• Before going full-time into Christian work Ivor was a draughtsman in a factory.
• He was also the shop-steward.
• When he felt God call him to leave the factory and go to Bible college;
• Ivor decided he should go around to each person he knew in the factory;
• And explain why he was leaving.
• He told me that there was one man he had hardly ever spoken to;
• A man who had shown him very little warmth or hint of wanting to be friends.
• When Ivor spoke to him and explained why he was leaving;
• The man turned around and said; “We will miss you ‘cause you were straight!”
• TRANSITION: We need by word and deed be people of truth.
• That starts with the words we do and do not say!
(b). Character.
“…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.”
• Christians are to be honest;
• They are not to pilfer from work because that is theft!
• That principles applies to the small things as well as the big!
• Non-Christians are watching us at work, they expect us to be different;
• And we should!
• So office supplies should not find themselves in our bags and briefcases.
• Time on-the-clock won’t be flippantly wasted,
• Expense accounts will not be stretched and padded out.
• And misappropriation won’t happen on our watch.
Notice: The outcome of such behaviour (vs 10b):
“so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive”
• The apostle says people will find our message of Good News attractive;
• Because we have decorated it, we have adorned it;
• By having a right attitude and character.
Ill:
• After a minister had preached a searching sermon on pride,
• A woman who had heard the sermon was waiting to speak to him by the door.
• She said she would like to confess to a great sin.
• So the minister asked her what the sin was.
• She answered,
• "The sin of pride, for I sat for an hour this morning admiring my beauty."
• The minister responded,
• "That was not a sin of pride - that was a sin of imagination!"
• TRANSITION:
• Some Christians at work imagine they are good witnesses but sadly are not;
• Others adorn, decorate, they beatify the gospel by the lives they live.
(2). Perfect Grace For Believers (vs 11-14)
• Verses 9-10 are the fifth group of people the apostle Paul specifically speaks to;
• These final verses in Titus 2 are a series of theological statements;
• These statements explain how grace impacts our spiritual lives.
(A). Grace and Salvation (vs 11).
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people”.
• The Greek word that is translated as ‘appeared’ is the word ‘Epiphany’;
• It refers to a visible manifestation of hidden divinity.
• In a few weeks time we will be celebrating the fact that (John chapter 1 verse 14):
• “The Word became a human being and dwelt among us”.
• I like the translation that says:
• “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into our neighbourhood”.
• The grace of God was seen in the person of Jesus Christ;
• Who John the apostle went on to say in verse 14b:
“We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.”
Ill:
• Author and pastor Leith Anderson writes in one of his books this story:
• He was visiting Manila;
• And was taken, of all places, to the Manila garbage dump;
• And saw something his eyes could hardly believe.
• Tens of thousands of people had made their homes on that dump site.
• They’ve constructed shacks out of the things other people have thrown away.
• And they send their children out early every morning;
• To scavenge for food out of other people’s garbage, so they can have family meals.
• People have been born and grown up there on the garbage dump.
• They have had their families, their children, their shacks, their garbage to eat,
• Finished out their lives, and died there without ever going anywhere else,
• Even in the city of Manila.
• It is an astonishing thing.
• But he was also shown that some Americans also live on the garbage dump.
• They are missionaries,
• Christians who have chosen to leave their own country;
• And communicate the love of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would never hear it.
• TRANSITION:
• People would leave what we have to go and live on a garbage dump.
• Amazing, but not as amazing as Christ’s journey from heaven to earth.
• “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into our neighbourhood”.
• He ‘appeared’ there was an ‘Epiphany’ of God’s grace.
• 2000 years ago there was a visible manifestation of invisible divinity.
• And he came to bring ‘Salvation to all people’.
• The rich, the poor, black or white, slave or free, men or women, adult or child….
• He came to bring ‘Salvation to all people’.
Ill:
• Mr. Walter Scott was once speaking from Matthew’s gospel (chapter 27 verse 51):
• About the veil of the Temple being torn in two from the top to the bottom.
• A man at the back of the room stood up and heckled him, asking;
• "How big was that hole?" "
• Mr. Walter Scott replied: “It was big enough to let any sinner pass through”.
• God has provided salvation for all mankind;
• The rich, the poor, black or white, slave or free, men or women, adult or child….
• Question: Have you ever responded that God’s gift of salvation?
• If not, why not - do it now!
(B). Grace and Sanctification (vs 12).
“It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”
• God’s salvation frees us from the punishment of sin;
• Jesus was punished on the cross that we might go free.
• Quote: 2 Corinthian’s chapter 5 verse 21:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
• God’s salvation frees us from the punishment of sin;
• But every Christian is still hounded by the temporal power of sin.
• None of us are perfect;
• And each day we have to do battle with a whole variety of temptations & thoughts.
• We need help! And God has provided help with his grace!
• Notice grace is a teacher who instructs us;
• Notice there are two lessons to learn, one is negative and the other positive.
• Negative instruction:
• Grace teaches us to say no to ‘ungodliness and worldly desires’.
• Positive instruction:
• Grace teaches us to say yes to a life pleasing Christ or as verse 12 puts it:
• ‘…to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
The purpose of these two lessons is our sanctification:
• Don’t be put off by the word sanctification:
• To sanctify someone or something;
• Is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer.
• So sanctification is simply living a life that pleases God;
• Grace teaches us to say yes to a life delighting Christ or as verse 12 puts it:
• ‘…to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
Quote: The great Scottish Bible expositor Alexander MacLaren, once wrote:
• ‘We may have as much of God as we will.
• Christ puts the key to the treasure chest into our hand, and bids us take all that we want.
• If a man is admitted into the vault of a bank told to help himself,
• And comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor?”
• Grace teaches us to say yes to a life delighting Christ or as verse 12 puts it:
• ‘…to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.
(C). Grace and Glorification (vs 13-14).
“while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
• The apostle Paul continued to encourage Titus by reminding him;
• That he has a ‘blessed hope’.
• Salvation: God has saved every Christian from the penalty of sin.
• Sanctification: God can save every Christian from the power of sin.
• Glorification: God will save every Christian from the presence of sin.
• When we meet Jesus – either in death or in the clouds;
• We are going to be changed and made like him!
• 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 4;
• Are the great chapters that explain this.
• But for us as Christians this is our blessed hope;
• It should motivate us to look with anticipation of seeing Christ’s return.
Ill:
• An elderly Christian lady attended a Christian conference gathering;
• Similar to Kewick/Spring Harvest etc.
• For her it was really the first time she had mixed with Christians from other denominations,
• This really blessed her and opened her eyes to the richness of Christian traditions
• She especially liked it when the preacher suggested;
• Instead of using the normal greetings,
• Why not use one popularised by the early Church.
• He pointed out that the first Christians were so eagerly awaiting the return of Christ;
• That they used the word ‘maranatha’;
• An Aramaic word meaning ‘the Lord is coming’.
• The elderly lady took this on board;
• But with her poor memory didn’t quite get it right.
• And the next day went around greeting everyone they met with the words;
• “Marijuana, brother, marijuana”.
(3). Important Words To Discharge (vs 15)
• Verse 15 is the concluding verse of this chapter;
• And a good verse to conclude this sermon with.
“These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.”
The apostle Paul gives in this verse a threefold task to Timothy:
FIRST: It is a task of proclamation:
“These, then, are the things you should teach”
• There is a positive message that needs to be declared;
• There are some things we do not need to argue over or discuss and debate;
• God has said it and each one of us must respond accordingly!
• The preachers job is not just to give the congregation a balanced diet;
• And of course as we work through various books of the Bible;
• We will naturally come across what we might term ‘enjoyable’ passages;
• As well as those ‘challenging’ and difficult passages of scripture.
• That many a preacher might prefer to skip over or ignore.
SECOND: It is a task of encouragement:
“Encourage and rebuke with all authority”
Quote: William Ward said:
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
• The Christian message is ‘good news’,
• Christ has saved us and now he wishes to sanctify us;
• Be encouraged that he not only took us with all our faults and failings,
• With all our rebellion and sinfulness;
• But he loves us too much to leave us like he found us!
• So each day he is cleaning us up and making us more like Jesus!
• And that is good news!
THIRD: It is a task of conviction:
“Encourage and rebuke with all authority”
• Sometimes we need the carrot and sometimes we need the stick;
• As well as encouragement sometimes we need to be told straight;
• Sometimes we need straight talk!
• I started last weeks sermon (chapter 2 verses 1-8);
• With a quote from Charles Swindoll, let me finish by reading the same quote.
Quote: Chuck Swindoll, Rise and Shine, p. 198 tells is straight:
“Ministry is a character profession. To put it bluntly, you can sleep around and still be a good brain surgeon. You can cheat on your mate and have little trouble continuing to practice law. Apparently, it is no problem to stay in politics and plagiarize. You can be a successful salesperson and cheat on your income tax. But you cannot do those things as a Christian or as a minister and continue enjoying the Lord's blessing. You must do right in order to have true integrity. If you can't come to terms with evil or break habits that continue to bring reproach to the name of Christ, please, do the Lord (and us in ministry) a favour and resign.”
• Tough words, but truthful words;
• God calls us as believers to ‘walk the talk’ to ‘practice what we preach’
• To help us achieve this;
• Sometimes we need the carrot and sometimes we need the stick!
sermon audio:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=Uv2qk28T5klJnB1UUz4aifQRom4qPjMb&forceSave=Listen_Up_-_Titus_chapter_2_verses_9%3D15.MP3
