One of the most remarkable stories in the history of horse
training is that of the horse named Snow Man. There is an old verse
that jockeys supposedly whisper into the horses ear before a race:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Horses that lose
Are made into glue.
Snow Man apparently heard this poem once to often, and he was
loaded into a van with some other nags heading for the dog food
factory. But a man named Harry De Leyer who knew horses saw
this big white horse and decided to buy it. He gave 70 dollars for it.
It was in really bad shape. One shoe was missing, and it was filthy.
Collar marks revealed that it had been in harness. De Leyer cleaned
him up and sold him to a doctor for a nice profit. But the horse
liked De Leyer so much that he jumped the fence and came trotting
back to him. The doctor built a higher fence and Snow Man jumped
that too. The doctor demanded his money back, and so De Leyer
was stuck with the horse.
He decided that if the horse could jump a fence maybe he could
be trained to be a jumper. He began to train Snow Man seriously,
and in his first show he beat the champion. He kept winning jumps
until he went on to Madison Square Garden where he knocked off
the reigning world champion by the name of First Chance. Within 6
months Snow Man went from dog meat to capture the triple crown
in jumping, and he became the world champion.
This true story illustrates the purpose of Paul in this letter to
Titus. He makes it clear that there are a number of crummy Cretan
Christians who are the equivalent of a nag heading to the dog food
factory. He closes the first chapter with a statement that they are
detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good. In horse
language they were glue material. But Paul says to Titus that he
should not give up. The goal is to teach and train and get these
worthless rebels sound in their doctrine and faith so they can be
champion Christians.
It is not easy and it is not automatic. It is a challenge, but losers
can become winners, and bad Christians can become good
Christians. The secret to success is Christian education. Just as
Snow Man could be trained, so can Christians. Chapter two is a
loud and clear call to make Christian education a priority in the
church. Here is a brief survey of chapter two.
v. 1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.
v. 2 Likewise teach the older women. Old people are very
teachable, and God expects them to learn new tricks for Christ. It is
old dogs that you can't teach new tricks to, and not old people.
v. 3 Not only are the older women to learn, but they are to also teach.
v. 4 Older women are to train the younger women.
v. 7 In your teaching show integrity and seriousness.
v. 9 Teach slaves.
v.10 Make teaching about God attractive.
v.12 God's grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness.
v.15 These things you should teach.
In ten out of the 15 verses of this chapter Paul actually uses the
words for teaching. The other 5 are involved as well, even though
the word is not used. There is no other place where Paul is so
focused on teaching as the task of the pastor and all church leaders.
To Paul the local church is to be a school for the education of saints.
Christians do not think like Christ, or act like Christ automatically.
They need to be taught. Becoming a Christian in one's life style is
achieved by learning. You are saved by trust in Christ. You
respond in faith and accept Jesus as your Savior, and you become a
child of God. But being saved is like being born again. You are just
a baby and far from being like the Savior who saved you. The only
way to become Christian in your thinking, attitudes, and behavior is
to be taught.
Christian education is the most basic aspect of the life of the
Christian. Everyone in the body of Christ is to be learning all the
time. This means that everyone who can be a teacher is to be a
teacher. Teaching and learning is what the church is all about.
Preach is only found 52 times in the Bible, but teach is found 114
times. There is no higher calling than to be a teacher in the kingdom
of God. To teach biblical truth is to be partners with Christ and the
Holy Spirit in the greatest task on earth. Part of the Great
Commission of Jesus in Matt. 28:19 is to go and teach all nations.
Jesus spent most of His public ministry teaching. He taught in the
synagogue, on the hillside, and from the ship in the sea.
When Jesus was not teaching the multitudes He was teaching
His disciples privately. They had the best teacher in the world, but
even after all His teaching they were not done learning, for Jesus
said that He would send the Holy Spirit to teach them all things.
The major work of the Holy Spirit is to teach, and Paul says this is
the major work of the church. He said that he was not opposed to
tongues, but he would rather speak 5 words that would teach others
something than ten thousand that were in an unknown tongue. Paul
is saying that the way we judge the value of what we do in the
church is not by how it makes us feel, but does it teach us. He said
the great task of Timothy was to teach faithful men so they could in
turn teach others.
We could go on and on dealing with all the verses that focus on
the necessity of teaching. The church that is not a school is not a
New Testament church. If people are not being taught the truth of
God's Word and how to live a practical Christian life, then the
church is failing to be what Christ expects it to be. Paul gets very
specific as to who is to be taught what. In verse 2 he starts with the
older men. Older men are to set the spiritual tone of the church.
They are to be examples of what a good Christian ought to be.
Cicero, over 50 years before Christ, said, "Old age may be animated
with more courage and fortitude than is usually found even in the
prime of life." Pagan wisdom supports the Jewish and Christian
conviction that old age is never an excuse to stop learning.
Older people are to be taught to be temperate. The KJV has the
word sober, and this is part of the meaning. To be temperate means
to use moderation in all things, and that includes the use of wine, but
it is not limited to the danger of drunkenness. To be sober means
more than not being drunk. It means one is watchful so as to
abstain from excess in all areas of life. Paul is saying that an older
man is to be an example of balance. This was recognized as a virtue
among the pagans, and Paul's whole point is that the Christian
should be taught to be as good as the best pagans.
Horace, one of the great Roman poets who lived in 8 B. C., and
who was likely read by Paul, wrote, "There is a mean in all things;
and moreover, certain limits on either side of which right cannot be
found." The inscription on the walls of the temple at Delphi was,
"Avoid excess." Paul lived in a world where the best pagans knew
that the temperate life, that is the life of moderation, was the life of
wisdom. He expected Christians to learn this and become examples
of it that the pagan world could admire and respect. This is a major
goal of the church to teach Christians to so live that they gain the
respect of people in their culture. That is the next virtue Paul says
the older men are to be taught. It is to be worthy of respect. This is
not limited just to older men. It is the same virtue the deacons the
women of the church are to aim for as well. Paul writes in I Tim.
3:18, "Deacons are to be men worthy of respect," and in 3:11 he
writes, "In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of
respect."
The standard for the common layman and the leaders are just
the same. The standard for the male and female are the same. All
Christians are to live a life that is worthy of respect. If
non-Christians do not like you and respect you, you are not an asset
to the kingdom of God. Why should anyone be interested in
knowing more about a faith that does not produce in people what
they admire? It is when people admire the Christian that they are
drawn to the faith that made them worthy of this respect.
Respectability is a goal for every Christian. Paul tells Titus to teach
this first of all to the older men. They of all people need to be
worthy of respect.
Then Paul says to teach them to be self-controlled. Again we see
the same high standard for the leaders of the church is to be the
standard for the followers as well. It is not as though the average
Christian is free to be a slipshod Christian just because they are not
leaders. They are not to be tossed about and unstable so that they
are not in control of their lives, but are being controlled by their
culture, and any false doctrine that comes along. Christian men are
to be in charge of their lives and not be manipulated by the whims
and fads of society.
Paul refers to this virtue 5 times in the this letter to Titus. He
is greatly concerned that Christian learn to be self-controlled and
not controlled by the popular passions of the culture. This is
relevant to our day as well, for what is popular captivates the
Christian as well as others, and they can be caught up in the ways of
the culture in the way they spend their time, energy, and resources.
They only have leftovers for the kingdom of God because they are
not self-controlled. The less you are self-controlled the less you are
living a life pleasing to God. If you are not in control of your own
life, you will not be free to do God's will. You will be in bondage to
the will of others.
In verse 6 Paul says the younger men need to be self-controlled
as well, but for youth the control is to be over their desires and
passions, but for the older men the need is to be in control of their
attitudes so that they do not become cynical. Dorothy Parker in The
Veteran gives us a picture of the danger:
"When I was young and bold and strong
Oh, right was right, and wrong was wrong!
My plume on high, my flag unfurled,
I rode away to right the world.
Come out you dogs, and fight! said I,
And wept there was but once to die.
But I am old: and good and bad
Are woven in a crazy plaid.
I sit and say, the world is so,
And he is wise who lets it go.
A battle lost, a battle won,
The difference is small, my son."
Here was an older man who had lost control and was no longer
in charge of his life fighting for the good and the right. He was now
under the control of the pessimism of the aged. Life does not
change. The same problems and sins of the former generations are
still the same, and so why bother to fight. He yielded the control of
his life to the reality of a fallen world. It seems logical enough, but
what he failed to consider is that God does not expect His people to
perfect the world, but only to be the light and salt so that some of the
world will come out of the world and become children of God.
You cannot surrender to the world's fallenness just because it
will ever be so till the end of time. Self-control will keep you
committed to winning some of the world no matter how bad it is. It
will always be the world until the judgment day, but the Christian is
to present the world with an alternative that they can respect and
admire, and hopefully choose it as the way they too will go. Without
self-control Christians get sidetracked, and they forget the very
reason Jesus left His church in the world.
The next thing the older men are to be taught is to be sound in
faith. This means they are to have a healthy theology. There was
much sick theology around that damaged lives, and Paul said that
people need to have a healthy theology to fight the false doctrines.
He keeps harping on sound doctrine in this letter, for the health of
the church depends on its being founded on healthy thinking about
God. The Greek word Paul uses here is the word for being whole
and healthy. It is the same word Dr. Luke used in Luke 5:31 where
he quotes Jesus saying, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but
the sick..."
Healthy is the same words Paul used for sound doctrine. Dr.
Luke used it again in Luke 7:10 where he says, "They found the
servant well." The Apostle John used it in III John 2 where he says,
"I pray that you may enjoy good health." Christians are in good
spiritual health when their faith is sound. That is, their
understanding of God, of Christ, and of their plan for the world are
based on the clear revelation of God, and not twisted by myths and
superstitious nonsense of men.
Then Paul says that these older men are to be taught to be sound
in love. Healthy love is not necessarily known even by older men.
There is so much unhealthy love in the world that has nothing to do
with the love of God for mankind. It is often self-centered
manipulation of others, or sheer lust, or some kind of neurotic
dependence. Good healthy love where you really learn to care about
other people and what is best for them is not automatic even for a
Christian. Christians can be just as perverted in love and exhibit
sick love just like anyone else.
Paul writes in II Tim. 4:10, "Demas, because he loved the world
has deserted me.." Here was a Christian who fell in love with the
world and his sick love led him out of Christian service. It happens
everyday somewhere where unhealthy love leads people away from
God. Many a Christian servant has let love for those they serve
become perverted so that it does harm rather than good. I will
never forget being with a group of pastors when Billy Graham
shared with us that he had to fire one of his key leaders. This man
was convinced that by having sex with black women he could break
down racial barriers. He was sincere, but his love was sick.
Compassion for the lonely has led many a Christian leader to use sex
to comfort, and this is sick love.
A sick and unhealthy love is almost always manifested in the
abuse of sex. A healthy love cares too much about people to use and
abuse them. Paul describes healthy love in I Cor. 13. It is familiar,
but let me share it again as the virtues that all Christians are to be
taught. "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not
boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres." A lot of things are called love
that are not like this at all. Whatever it is, it is not Christian love,
but some sick form of love that comes from the fallen nature of man.
Sound and healthy love is Christ like, and this is one of the primary
goals of Christian education to teach sound love.
Then Paul ends this list for older men with sound endurance. It
is translated patience, perseverance and steadfastness also. The
idea is that anybody can be a Christian for a week, a month, and
maybe even more, but in a fallen world a good Christian is going to
face trials. It may be family, or economics, or health, or any number
of things, but it will put the pressure on to give up the struggle to
live the balanced and good life. It is too much of a hassle to control
myself and live in a loving way toward everyone. It does not solve
my problem, and so why should I bother? Severe suffering will
cause most Christians to go through some sort of conflict like this,
and that is why Christians need to be taught to have sound
endurance. This is the ability to not give up, but to hang in there
and do the will of God even when it does not seem to pay off.
Tony Compolo tells of his friend Barbara Johnson. She lost one
of her sons in Viet Nam, and then a second son was killed in a car
accident caused by a drunk driver. Then her husband was seriously
brain injured in another accident. Then she discovered a third son
was homosexual. This is not a soap opera plot dealing with several
families. This is real life for one of God's children. Many Christians
with far less trial become weary in well doing. They just get out of
the game and sit on the sidelines in bitterness.
Barbara and her husband exhibit sound endurance. They have
what is called the Spatula Ministries which is a support group
ministry to Christian parents with homosexual children. It is not
that she did not go through deep depression, but she remained
steadfast in spite of it, and God using her in a unique ministry to His
people. You never know what you will have endure to stay faithful
to Christ. Many have to go through something of hell on earth.
Most have to endure a fair amount of frustration and suffering to be
faithful to the Lord. It is not easy, and even those who saw the
miracles of Jesus found it hard to stick with Him.
In John chapter 6 Jesus taught some hard things. In verse 50
we read, "On hearing it, many of His disciples said, this is a hard
teaching. Who can accept it?" Then after a few more verses of
hard teaching John says in verse 66, "From this time many of His
disciples turned back and no longer followed Him." Jesus lost
disciples. People who were for Him and followed Him said it is just
to hard, and so they quit and never showed up again. The lack
sound endurance. No Christian is going to escape trials that will
provoke them to ask, is it worth it? Should I keep following Jesus,
or just give it up? Does it really pay to be a Christian?
Unfortunately, this kind of battle never ends, for Paul says the
older men need to be taught to endure. Long after the draft will not
accept a man, and long after no army will welcome you, the
Christian is still in the army of the Lord having to make the
decision, do I go AWOL, or do I stand fast for my Lord and endure
as a good soldier of the cross?
It is important that older men learn to endure because they then
teach by their example. A faithful old Christian who has been
through many trials, but who is still faithful to the Lord, will
influence more lives to endure than any dozens books by experts.
People need to see it in real people. They need to see the beauty of
suffering saints who do not throw in the towel, but keep on keeping
on whatever the cost. Paul is one of the greatest examples.
What a Christian has to learn to endure is not just a fallen world,
but Christians who don't care and who don't understand, and who
may just have a mean streak. Ann Kiemel has for years been one of
the great dynamic forces for Christ. She has inspired millions to be
enthusiastic about sharing their faith. But would you believe that
she gets the nastiest letters and phone calls from Christians. A man
called her and said, "I thought you were genuine and sincere, and
that you really cared for the world and other people. Now I know
its a hoax. I wrote to you about coming to my town, and probably
because you thought we were small and insignificant you said no. I
am very disappointed in you. You don't practice what you preach."
She was devastated by this attitude, for this person did not realize
that she had to say no to dozens of requests because she cannot be in
more than one place at the same time. Her schedule is full, and it is
first come first served. She has to say no to all other requests for
that date, but Christians don't understand and treat her like dirt
because she is not superhuman.
Ann has to endure the constant hurt inflicted on her by other
Christians who do not understand. She gives her life to serve Christ
and His body, but she has to suffer much pain from the body
because of ignorance. It hurts, but she does not become weary in
well doing. She has learned sound endurance, and so she goes on
serving, and this needs to be taught because their will always be the
trials caused by believers. Anyone in Christian service needs to learn
this, for none will escape, and the more successful you are the more
you will have to endure. It is vital that all Christian leaders learn
this, and all that Paul writes of here. It is the very essence of the task
of the church to make sure that all believers are getting the best in
Christian education.
