INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: There’s a new age coming – a new age wave. It is going to hit the 21st century church like a Pacific tsunami. There are now more people over age 65 than under 18. We would be wise to look at the fact that Apostle Paul recognized the value and usefulness of senior adults in general, and of women in particular when he addressed senior women in Titus 2:3-4.
Transition: Two weeks ago, we began to talk about Striving For Church Health. If SCC is going to be a healthy church, the senior saints must lead the way in example and conduct and we, the congregation, must know how to react and respond to their lives and walk among us.
Text: Titus 2:1-10
Background: The apostle left Titus on the island of Crete to ’’set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5).’’ They have need for spiritual maturity in the congregation. And so Titus has been given the assignment to work to that end. To establish order in the church Paul gave Titus instructions concerning the behavior of various groups of Christians. Titus was instructed to approach every group in the church and challenge them to a holy lifestyle. “I want them to be godly men and women so that they will be salt and light on that island.” He did not only want them to live holy lives but to preserve a powerful Christian testimony in their community. He wanted them to be a healthy, well-balanced group of believers that clearly and attractively presented the gospel in their island community.
Title: Striving for Church Health
Miniseries Theme: Equipping Them In All Stages of Life!
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OUTLINE
Opening Statement: Look on the back of your bulletins with me. This will assist you in responding to three soon-coming questions. Would our worship leaders please stand? Would our deacons/lay leaders please stand? Would our ministers please stand? You are all ministers. Every minister needs to be equipped to do the work of ministry among all ages. A healthy church is one that grows warmer in fellowship, deeper through discipleship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism. One author has noted: “You don’t judge an army’s strength by how many people sit in the mess hall. You judge an army on the basis of how many people are trained, equipped, and active on the front line.” You don’t judge a churches success by how many people attend a worship service on Sunday morning, though many times that is a good indicator of what’s happening. You judge a church by how healthy and prepared it is when it comes to equipping people to take back enemy-held territory in people’s lives.
Key Word: Paul exhorts Titus to be alert to five different groupings of people on the island of Crete. There are 5 SPECIFIC GROUPS that are addressed: senior adult men, senior adult women, young women, young men, and employees.
Target: Every senior adult woman aged 60 or above, please stand. These are the focus this morning, with applications for everyone.
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Healthy Senior Women
Opening Statement: God desires that you and I come into our older age with grace and dignity while at the same time being useful in the local church. In His Word, God gives us instruction as to how senior adult women are to be useful in the local church.
Recitation: Titus 2:1 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. [This is my job – to communicate what a healthy church should look like. This was Titus’ job.] 2 Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. 6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. 9 Urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
Explanation: Paul turns to the second group, the "older women." Women are to be a godly resource in the church. Here he is addressing grandmothers, and women who have raised their children and have a wealth of life experience. Senior women are to be reverent in their behavior, not gossips or drunkards. He says some specific things about women in light of the society in which they lived.
Exposition: II. (:3-4A) CONDUCT OF OLDER WOMEN
A. "reverent in their behavior" Exhibit Christlikeness, to everyone, but especially to the young women around you so that they sense the Lord in you. Paul wanted the older women of Crete to have access to God. They were to be the kind of women who could enter God’s holy presence and be right at home.
Illustration: Is there anything sweeter than a godly older woman who joyfully lives out her life in humble service to God and others an who enjoys an up-to-date relationship with her God? I once knew a lady who did this very thing. She lived life reverently before God. She was best friends with my mother and her name was Oma Jordan. She was in a constant prayer-mindset and was fervent in her testimonies and waved a white handkerchief. But her spirituality was also very practical. Her trademark was a chocolate chip cookie. And she made them for everyone. Not only that, but one time I lost my contact lens. I thought that it was gone forever. My mother happened to tell Oma about it and she began to pray. And she fasted for a few meals, I later learned, in fervent prayer for my lost contact. The next day while taking a shower, the water in my eyes evidently moved the contact to the corner of my eye and through Oma’s prayers, I felt the contact just before it popped out and would have either been crushed or washed down the drain. I remember another time when I was going to have surgery and my mother gathered all of the prayer warriors around me. I was scared to death. But I knew it was a God-thing and if God was going to touch me, they were the ones that I would have wanted praying for me. They were godly women, reverent in the behavior.
Application: I certainly am not implying that to be the godly senior adult woman that God has called you to be you have to bake cookies for everyone, fast for contacts, and pray over young children, but there ought to be a since of godliness about your life with the Lord. Your testimony needs to be clear and at times verbally stated as well as demonstrated in daily life.
B. "not malicious gossips" What an immediate contrast this is? From the presence of the Lord in reverent behavior to gossiping! Do not be malicious gossips. Now that your children are gone, don’t spend your life sitting around, slandering other people, and tearing them apart.
Definition: One pastor that just loves to do word studies and incorporate them into his sermon is John MacArthur. Do you know what he says about this word for “gossips.” It’s the Greek word diabolos, 34 times in the New Testament it appears as a name for Satan. Nothing is more Satanlike than slander. And whereas men tend to sin and violently react physically, men prove to be rough or violent in their words. Satan is a malicious slanderer, slandering night and day. Don’t be Satanlike.
Observation: I think Paul is right on here. One thing that has been observed by many people is the tendency of older senior adult women to want to know everything and share their findings with their network of friends. As a result, they ask many questions sometimes, even to the point of being nosy. And they have done this for so long that they don’t even realize how obvious their motives are.
Illustration: We were at my wife’s home recently along with several other family members. A lady across the street called and just simply confessed. She said, “Donna, I just can’t stand it any longer. What are all those cars doing in front of your house?”
Application: We always want to be gracious in these matters, so allow me to encourage you the congregation. Go ahead and entertain the questions that might be asked of you from time to time from our older senior adult women. Many times their questions are out of legitimate concern. However, only share what is necessary and what you are comfortable sharing. Don’t tempt our older senior adult women with “juicy things.” Senior adult women, stay concerned. Don’t be afraid to be involved, but don’t push too hard for information that someone would really rather not share. Paul said, “I don’t want you to be malicious gossips.”
C. "nor enslaved to much wine" And do not be enslaved to wine, wasting your life away, trying to avoid reality. In Crete as elsewhere, older people turned to stimulants to refresh their weary bodies, tired minds, and he says your women are not to do that. Your women don’t need to become slaves to that. It must have been a common thing as it even is today. These older believers are not to become drunkards, they’re not to give themselves to wine, and they’re to maintain their senses.
Observation: Some people believe that alcohol is the answer to social fun or relaxation. Not true. I have seen perfectly sober senior adult women get tickled and laugh themselves silly over little things that a grandchild has said or done. And they laugh hysterically all over again when they tell someone else about it.
D. "teaching what is good" You older women teach what is good rather than waste life in gossip and drunkenness. I don’t think Paul is asking here for some kind of formal seminar. You have to come alongside younger ladies and teach them how to live life and nurture them to godliness. A training process implies relationship, ongoing relationship and responsibility and affirmation. You older women who no longer have the responsibility of your own children now have the responsibility of training the next generation of women.
E. "that they may encourage the young women" You’ve already taught your children. They have come and gone. Now it’s your time to teach and encourage the younger generation. That’s so important. That’s why you have to have those godly older women in the congregation to teach the younger ones, to teach them how to raise their children, how to love their husbands and how to be godly.
Transition: It is a blessing when the local church family has in its number those who are aged pilgrims who have long walked with the Lord. They are indeed privileged to live such long lives, and with this privilege comes a responsibility. This responsibility applies to senior men and senior women. God wants you to be healthy and He wants us to be healthy as a church.
Question: Again, I come back to us, the congregation. How should we treat our senior women, especially those who are endeavoring to live this kind of gossip-free, temperate, and exemplary life?
Application: To those of us who are not seniors yet, I have four primary applications regarding senior adult women.
1. Know their value. While they may exhibit their age in being forgetful and physically feeble, they are still sharp intellectually, socially active and physically strong. Elderly people who are loved by their children are less likely to become depressed. Evidence shows that feeling loved can even fortify the immune system.
2. Know about their biological changes. Some lose an inch or more of their height due to compressed vertebrae and weakened muscles. Vision and hearing loss is problematic. Older adults take longer to retrieve names, dates and other information from memory. Some have severely impaired judgment. Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s are three prevalent brain diseases in older adults.
3. Know what’s important to them. If you want to have a really great visit with a senior saint, invite them to talk about their memories, whether happy or sad. Listen non-judgmentally. Help this person re-experience events and emotions that have been in the background for years.
4. Know how to honor them. Certainly God has told us to revere those who are older than we are, those who are the aged who have walked with Him. Leviticus 19:32 says, "You shall rise up before the gray headed and honor the aged." Job 12:12, "Wisdom is with the aged with long life is understanding." Somebody older who has walked a long time in the path of righteousness is a treasure, a treasure of wisdom and a treasure of experience and a treasure of understanding, a triumphant Christian who has fought the battle over and over and over and been victorious, who has experienced everything that the young are waiting to experience; these become a great treasure to the church. We can honor them by helping them to stay connected to the local church and use their strength and intellect for God’s glory in the local church.
Honoring senior adult women is extremely important. Did you know that only 7% of the nearly two million annual cases of elder abuse get reported? The typical victim is abused by an adult child living with them. Before this happens, honor them by getting the necessary help you need.
Illustration: Gerontologists point out that older adults often lean one of two ways.
There are those who are preoccupied with their own limitations or past regrets that focus on how their bodies look, feel, and operate. There is a tendency to overachieve to compensate for their feelings of not being good enough anymore. In many cases they are obsessed with who does and does not care about them. They can be easily offended.
A second group of seniors is those who take joy in knowing that there is more to life than the physical. They rejoice in the impact they have on those around them.
Then, to our senior ladies, I would say by way of application (these are similar to the senior men).
1. Minister to one another. You do a great job of this.
2. Do all the good you can, especially the things we’ve mentioned this morning. You have a lot of good things to offer.
3. Keep moving and think about all the things yet to be done. Your life experiences have prepared you to do something great!
4. Remember your faith and reflect on the good things with a smile.
CONCLUSION
Summarization: In the life of a healthy, well-balanced church it’s really very important to have people who are godly seniors. And that’s what Paul is saying to Titus. Let’s go back to Titus. He’s saying, you know, as you look at your congregation, Titus, you need to start your instruction with the older people because they’re so crucial. Spiritually healthy senior adults can have a high impact! Older people then in a fellowship do become a treasure, a tremendous blessing. They bring spiritual experience, spiritual strength, spiritual endurance, spiritual wisdom to all of us. And if in the years ahead the church has an abundance of such people, what a source of blessing, but only if they walk in the way of righteousness. And that’s why the instruction of Titus verses 2 and 3 in chapter 2 is so very, very important. There’s no value in being old if you’re not godly. There’s no value in being old if you’re not a model or an example. And so the Apostle Paul lays down some very specific characteristics that are to be manifest in the older people in the congregation.
Illustration: You need some people who can stand with the Apostle Paul after an entire lifetime of walking with God and say I’ve fought the good fight, I’ve kept the faith.
Invitation: Where ever you’re at and whatever your feelings may be, I invite you to come this morning for a time of consecrated prayer for your needs. God has designed you to be empty without him. Why don’t you come and renew things with God. Let God begin to rewrite those wasted years. Age is your reminder that home is a little closer.
