Formed and reFormed by Gospel Community
Titus so far has been like the beginning of a game of pool.
- Start with the stick – leaders
- Tough
- Titus is a little tougher than Timothy
- Straight in doctrine and character
- Tough
- Line up the first shot
- Not too far to the left or the right
- Getting doctrine right is critical
- 2 errors
- Cretans were far from God because they acted very bad
- The circumcision party were far from God because they acted very good
With that first shot you’re aiming at the mass of balls, all racked up in a neat triangle.
- That first shot is called a “break”
- After that shot, you’re not dealing with a group anymore.
- The game is now about individual balls,
- while sometimes you can pocket more than one with a shot,
- each ball now requires individual thought and an individual strategy
In Chapter 2 we stop dealing with generalities.
- Cretans
- Circumcision
We see individuals and groups
- Older Men
- Older Women
- Young Women
- Young Men
- Slaves
- Even Titus himself is called out
And like a good pool player, we are called to hold two tasks in mind.
- Winning the whole game
- Dealing with individuals
The goal is to establish a gospel community (a.k.a. a church) that preaches the gospel faithfully and forcefully.
To do this, we have to be wise missionaries to individuals in our community.
1. Each Group Has Its Own Questions
Gordon McDonald A Resilient Life
Teaching worship leaders, all under 35
How do I help them connect … not with better songs, but with prayers, words and meanings that will connect with their audience?
His “small group” … jokes, stories all have one theme in common: DEATH
Why? In his phase of life the odds are increasing that one or more of them won’t live out the year.
Individuals have different questions and needs …
Twenty-Somethings, - Identity.
- What kind of a man or woman am I becoming, they were likely to wonder, and how am I different from my mother or father?
- Where can I find a few friends who will welcome me as I am and who will offer the familylike connections that I need / or never had?
- Can I love, and am I lovable?
- Vocation
What will I do with my life?
What is it that I really want in exchange for my life
-Lordship question:
Around what person or conviction will I organize my life?
Thirty-Somethings
There is an expansion of responsibility and no expansion of time,
How do I prioritize the demands being made on my life?
Career - one can begin to see that there are winners and losers, as well as also-rans (those who simply finish unnoticed in the middle of the pack). And the question forms:
How far can I go in fulfilling my sense of purpose?
Loneliness. New friendships are not easily made nor do they often measure up to the kind of friendships one used to enjoy. Old friends have drifted away; often, new acquaintances simply do not have the time to build the satisfying relationships that were part of the younger years.
Spiritual life changes for people in their thirties. The spiritual questions no longer center on the ideals of youth but on the realities of a life that is tough and unforgiving. Most thirty-somethings who seek a spiritual component to life will tell you that words like empty, tired, confused, and drifting mingle in their thoughts in a way they never expected. Thus these questions materialize:
What does my spiritual life look like? Do I even have time for one?
It
Why am I not a better person?
Forty-Somethings. The complexities of life further accelerate, and----and this is worrisome----we begin to recognize that we can no longer fob off our flaws and failures as youthfulness and inexperience. We are, as they say, grown-up. We are expected to handle the bumps and bruises of life with an unshakable courage. Panic and fear are for younger (and older?) people. But in one
Why do some people seem to be doing better than I?
Why am I often disappointed in myself and others?
Why are limitations beginning to outnumber options?
Forty-somethings may ask, why do I seem to face so many uncertainties?
Fifty-somethings - have moved across life
The news of friends dying, marriages dissolving, and people moving to places of retirement increases. It can be a time for sober thinking.
Why is time moving so fast? Because it is moving so fast.
Why is my body becoming unreliable?
How do I deal with my failures and my successes?
How can my spouse and I reinvigorate our relationship now that the children are gone?
Who are these young people who want to replace me?
What do I do with my doubts and fears?
Will we have enough money for the retirement years if there are health problems and economic downturns?
Sixty-Somethings
When do I stop doing the things that have always defined me?
Why do I feel ignored by a large part of the younger population?
Why am I curious about who is listed in the obituary column of the papers, how they died, and what kinds of lives they lived?
Can I still accomplish something with my life?
Who will be around me when I die?
If married, which one of us will go first, and what is it like to say good-bye to someone with whom you have shared so many years of life?
Seventies and Eighties
Does anyone realize, or even care, who l once was?
Is anyone aware that I once owned [or managed] a business, threw a mean curveball, taught school, possessed a beautiful solo voice, had an attractive face?
Is my story important to anyone?
How much of my life can I still control?
Is there anything I can still contribute?
[TS] The big answer to every one of those questions is found in Jesus.
But it would be wise to make sure each group is being treated lovingly and individually.
That’s part of Paul’s message here.
2. Each Group Has Its Own Need for Jesus
Every answer “accords with sound doctrine”
Sound = Healthy
- Same word to describe people after Jesus healed them
- Right living and right believing go together
- Orthodoxy – Straight Belief
- Orthopraxis – Straight Living
Older Men (v.2)
Dealing with questions in life’s second half.
Can I still contribute?
How do I deal with younger people trying to pass me, ignore me or bury me?
Answer – be dignified and mature
Faith / Love / Steadfastness
Older Women (v.3-4)
Dealing with loneliness, health problems, wondering why life is so uncertain … have I lived up to my potential?
Reverent = practicing the presence of God
- Like a priestess in a temple
- God’s presence filtering through every aspect of your life
Watch Your Words
- Not slandering
Invest in the next generation
- Train younger women
Young Women (v.4-5)
What should I live my life around?
Is my identity based on my work, my marriage (or lack of one) or something else?
Am I loveable?
Love = Sacrifice and service
- This can be trained, even if it isn’t felt
Young Men (v.6)
What will I get out of life?
What if I don’t raise to the standards of my dreams?
What if all my “potential” remains untapped?
Self-Controlled = Self Mastery
- temper
- tongue
- lusts
- appetites
Titus Himself (v.7-8)
Example
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. - 1 Timothy 4:1
Follow the leader to better follow Jesus
Integrity = Uncorrupted-ness
Slaves (v.9-10)
Focus on work and character
Good behavior can adorn the gospel
- the gospel is a jewel
- our works are the setting it is displayed in
[TS] So we’ve been focusing on individual groups within the church.
Remember what we said at the beginning … like a good pool player, we are called to hold two tasks in mind.
- Winning the whole game
- Dealing with individuals
The goal is to establish a gospel community (a.k.a. a church) that preaches the gospel faithfully and forcefully.
3. Every Groups Needs Are Met in Community
What I love about this passage is that even though it focuses on specific issues, it never takes its eyes off the main point … staying together in a gospel community.
It’s tempting to try to solve every age-groups’ questions with age-specific answers.
- Youth for Christ
- Christian Businessman’s Association
- Mothers of Pre-Schoolers (MOPS)
- Small Groups
- These have a place, but they can’t replace the full church.
Church = a community of the gospel
Forgiven sinners who stand together and work together because of a shared love for Jesus and a commitment to His mission.
- Every other group that works together have things in common
- Money
- Tastes
- Schooling
- Politics
- The church is made up of natural enemies
- We only stand together because we are equally loved by Jesus, forgiven by Jesus, being changed by Jesus and wanting to tell others about Jesus
A. Are We Christian Deep Sea
Richard Lovelace Dynamics of Spiritual Life
Metaphor of how many of us live
- deep sea divers
- connected to grace individually
- Life a diver to air by a hose
- A self-contained system
- Can work with other divers
- But if their hose is cut, you’re still okay
B. Gospel Community is Organically Grown
Not like a Deep Sea Diver
More like coral
The coral reef ecosystem is a diverse collection of species that interact with each other and the physical environment.
- The sun is the initial source of energy for this ecosystem.
- Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton, algae, and other plants convert light energy into chemical energy.
- As animals eat plants or other animals, a portion of this energy is passed on. (from SeaWorld)
- Sponges provide shelter for fishes, shrimps, crabs, and other small animals.
- Sea anemones -symbiotic relationships with clownfish and other fish.
- An anemone
- In return, fish may protect the anemone from predators & may even remove parasites from their host anemones.
- An anemone
- Shrimps, crabs, lobsters, and other crustaceans find protection from predators in crevices or between coral branches.
- Crustaceans are prey & predators.
- The banded coral shrimp is an example of a cleaner shrimp. It removes parasites and dead skin from reef fishes.
Grace is communicated through the Body of Christ along horizontal channels as well as through vertical.
The L Zone
- So we can’t live in isolation
- The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” - 1 Corinthians 12:21
“If he is isolated from Christians around him who are designed to be part of the system through which he receives grace, or if those Christians are themselves spiritually weak, he cannot be as strong and as filled with the Spirit as he otherwise would be. Individual spiritual dynamics and corporate spiritual dynamics are interdependent, just as the health of the body and the health of its cells are correlative.” (Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal, p.168)
C. The Goal of Gospel Community is to Help Us Change
If we’re not changing, we can’t know that we’re saved.
4. How To Build Community?
#1 Share Answers to Life’s Questions
#2 Mentoring
#3 Intergenerational Relationships
#4 Common
Erwin McManus says this powerfully in “The Cause Driven Church.” The early church existed with a dynamic tension: it was both expanding and consolidating—growing and unifying. The Bible tells us that first century believers "shared everything in common" and that "the church was being added to day by day." We want our church to live in this same tension.
This tension is illustrated by two biblical images—the body of Christ and the army of God. The body of Christ is centered on community; the army of God is centered on cause.
Healthy community flows out of a unified cause—not the other way around. Jesus called his disciples and said, "Follow me. I
#5 Pray Together