INTRODUCTION
Review: Over a month 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. Young women must also lead by making their home and family a priority. Younger men must lead exemplary lives. And, finally, we come to the employed. In our culture today, of course, we do not have to deal with this master--slave syndrome, yet Paul’s words can be applied to our own lives, especially in the area of employer--employee relationships.
Transition:
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 – Healthy Employed Saints
Miniseries Theme: Equipping Them In All Stages of Life!
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OUTLINE
Key Word: There are 5 SPECIFIC GROUPS that are addressed: senior adult men, senior adult women, younger women, younger men, and employees. Today, we focus on employees in particular.
Healthy Employed Saints
Opening Statement: They came from every nation, every tribe, every social level, and many of them were becoming Christians. We’re all very aware of the fact that the Roman Empire basically depended upon slaves for all of its labor. We know from history that there were more than 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. They were a very essential part of life in ancient times.
It is true that many slaves were mistreated, many of them were cheated out of what was rightfully theirs, they were abused, they were beaten, some of them were killed. They were brutalized and regarded as a living tool. If a slave was rebellious in any way he could be executed. If he ran away and was later captured, he was branded with a hot iron and called a fugitive. He lived his whole life at the mercy of his master. What comes to mind is the TV series Roots, Kunta Kentae, and the whole slave family. On one hand, slavery was similar to the Americanized form of slavery in the 1800’s.
But on the other hand, slavery was a means of gainful employement. They were loved, cared for, and as a result they voluntarily served even after they were given the opportunity for freedom because they so loved their families that they had come to be a part of. They chose this as a vocation in other words. A slave was allowed, of course, to marry and have his own family and very often a landowner would give him his own little house and his own piece of land. So, they were treated as employees, given fringe benefits, and taken care of.
Allow me to clarify something. The issue in this passage is not addressing the condition of slavery. It is not discussing what kind of situation the slaves might have been in. It simply says that if you are employed, especially in this manner, you have an obligation to so live your life as to draw attention to the saving power of God demonstrated through you. When a slave came into a relationship with Christ he regained his humanity, so that he too became a candidate for the ’’sound doctrine" that Paul is speaking about. When an employee encounters Christ and endeavors to live for Christ, he or she begins to work for a new boss – Jesus. They have the opportunity of clearly and attractively living out the Christian message before their bosses and fellow employees on a weekly basis. There’s no concern here in this text about revolution or rebellion or equal rights or equal freedoms. There’s a place for this, but not here. Rather, now that you’re in employee and you are a Christian, how can you best live out the Christian message?
Exposition: 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.
Exposition: V. (:9-10) CONDUCT OF SLAVES/EMPLOYEES
A. "Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything"
Definition: The first quality then that Paul underscores is submission. The Greek word is hupotasso, is often used as a military term. It means to get into rank, to yield to, to line up under. The apostle urges, "slaves be subject to their masters in everything," i.e., in everything that is morally correct, everything that agrees with sound doctrine.
Illustration: Paul is asking them to yield to their bosses in order to avoid any unnecessary interpersonal conflict or power struggle. A traffic sign with the word “Yield” on it comes to mind. Drivers who have a yield sign are to give right of way to the other driver. Have you ever been on a country road with a single lane bridge and two yield signs on both ends? “Yielding” in that scenario is a reasonable and gracious way of preventing a head-on collision. When the Bible commands Christians to “be subject to one another” (Eph. 5:21) in general and for employees to be subject to bosses in particular, it is simply a reasonable and gracious command to let the other have the right of way and avoid interpersonal head-on collisions.
Notation: Paul doesn’t identify the “masters” as Christian or Non-Christian. Even if they are difficult people OR if they are loving, godly Christians, we are to have an attitude of yielding because it honors Christ.
Illustration: Two scenarios come to mind. My boss is a Christian. She really loves the Lord. But instead of giving her the respect and place that she deserves, I quote Galatians 3:28 “We are all one in Christ Jesus” and refuse to listen to her and when she tries to tell me what I need to do, I resist. Furthermore, because she is a Christian, I expect special allowances and privileges. “I don’t have to work as hard and a Christian boss will not be hard on me.” That kind of thinking dishonors Christ and I’m getting out of rank. Christianity does not obliterate the necessary lines of authority in the world of employment. There’s another scenario. I have a boss and he is just about as mean and hateful as a boss can be. He doesn’t deserve any respect at all. While he doesn’t ask anyone to do anything unethical and he doesn’t attack anyone personally, he makes the work place miserable for everyone and for this reason I choose to undermine his authority. That also dishonors Christ and you’re getting out of rank.
Observation: You say, "How does this dishonor Christ? Why in the world is God so concerned about what I do on my job?" And the answer is because it has evangelistic implications. One of the underlying issues here for this whole series has been evangelistic. This is summed up in three statements; one at the end of verse 5, "That the Word of God may not be dishonored." The second at the end of verse 8, "That the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us." And the last at the end of verse 10, "That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect." You see, when you live and work in the way described in this message, you are presenting people with a contrast; a contrast to the way they may be living. If you return hatefulness-for-hatefulness and disrespect-for-disrespect, what kind of contrast are you providing? You’re blending right in with your environment. Paul’s not taking away our ability to disagree and challenge when appropriate to do so. But if we are believers working for a believer, then submit by doing a good job for them. If we are working for a hateful person, someone needs to provide a contrast in that setting. Why not be that attractive Christian contrast?
Notation: Regarding an evangelistic impact, some of you may be thinking, "Well I’m not a very good communicator; I’m not very good at witnessing; I’m not very bold. The point is if you just live the way God asks you to live in your job environment, you will manifest a transformed life, which points back to the transformer who is God.
B. "to be well-pleasing,"
Explanation: The second quality that Paul underscores of Christian employees is excellence. Paul calls the Cretans to excellence rather than mediocrity.
Quotation: Excellence means being your best. Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Excellence means matching your practice with your potential.
Application: Do a good job at what you do. Don’t wait for someone else to establish the standard or set the pace. Therefore, if you’re a Christian, respect the ranks and strive for excellence, and everyone will know who the very best worker in the entire office is and suddenly your testimony becomes much more attractive. It all starts with submission and yielding right of way and pushing toward excellence.
C. “not argumentative”
Definition: The third quality is compliance. The idea is to not be obstinate. It has the idea of speaking back, resisting, thwarting, rejecting, disobeying. The Christian in the workplace doesn’t do this all of the time. Rather, he/she is to be known for respect for authority.
Notation: Frankly, this is a very common fault among employees. You don’t like what they told you to do so you don’t do it. You don’t like what they told you to do so you do it half-heartedly so that it will fail and then they’ll agree with you that you shouldn’t have done it in the first place. It’s an attitude of resistance and non-compliance that Paul is after here.
Clarification: Now if there’s a proper forum for discussion, use it. If there’s a proper dialogue structure in which you can share your ideas and insights and your wisdom, do it. But once the decision is made and the command is given, comply with a “can-do” attitude.
D. "not pilfering, but showing all good faith"
Definition: A fourth quality that Paul underscores is honesty. As Christians, they were not to "pilfer" i.e., they were not to steal because they felt their masters owed them something.
Illustration: James Dent of the Charleston, W. Va., Gazette records this story. He said: “Two fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. Then an evangelist came to town, and one of the butchers became a Christian. He tried to persuade his partner to accept salvation also, but to no avail. “Why won’t you, Charlie?” asked the born-again fellow. “Listen, Lester,” the other butcher said. “If I get religion, too, who’s going to weigh the meat?”
Observation: You can be on the job talking about Jesus all the time and humming hymns during your break and reading Christian books and if somebody finds out you’ve been tipping the scales while weighing the meat or taking money out of the treasury for your own private use, it will not matter what you said. They will conclude that your God is not a God who transforms sinners into saints and thus God is dishonored.
E. Summary: "that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect"
Explanation: Employees who have an attitude of submission, who pursue excellence continuously, who demonstrate a “can-do attitude, and who are honest people accomplish something very, very special. They “adorn” the gospel.
Definition: Adorn is the word kosmeo. We get cosmetics out of it. It’s a word basically that means order. It’s used of arranging something, putting something in proper order. Properly arranged and applied cosmetics are designed to highlight features that bring out the beautiful traits of someone.
Application: Employees who apply the cosmetics of submission, excellence, compliance, and honesty are a beautiful thing to behold.
CONCLUSION
Conclusion: I want to conclude this mini-series by stating that our greatest witness in this community is in the way that our senior saints conduct themselves among their friends; it is in the way that our younger women value the home and children and the time they have given to these endeavors is evident in the community by a healthy home-life; it is in the way that our younger men lead exemplary lives and pursue their families and lead in the church; and it is in the way that we work on our jobs every week. Once we establish this kind of credibility in our individual lives, it’s no telling what God might do in our church, in our homes, at our places of employment, and in our relationships.
