Older Men - Living Like Christ
OK, it's week 4out of 5 in our Titus series. I hope you're still with me here and being challenged and encouraged by these words of Paul's.
Last week we saw how he warned Titus about the false teachers of the day. And then chapter 2 starts with these words: “You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.”
Teaching Sound Doctrine
That kind of reminds me of a quote I've seen going around Facebook for a few years now, which says don't go to the church closest to your house, go to the church that is closest to the Bible, one that teaches sound doctrine.
So Paul then begins to instruct Titus on how to teach the various people in the church family. We're going to have a look at each of them in the days to come.
Godly Qualities in Older Men
And firstly, Paul says this in verse 2: “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”
Now here's a thought for the day. What would Jesus have been like if He lived to be an older man? Maybe you've seen on the Internet these pictures going around of celebrities who died young and what they would look like if they were alive today. There's some pretty powerful technology that can do this so you can see Elvis or James Dean or Marilyn Monroe as 80-year-olds.
What would Jesus have been like as an 80-year-old? Not so much in His appearance, but in His character? Maybe this little passage from Paul would describe an older Jesus: temperate and self-controlled and sober when it's tempting to overindulge, worthy of respect - in other words, reverent and dignified—doesn't mean gloomy and boring, by the way, you can be reverent and dignified and still fun-loving and cheerful.
Sound in faith, hopeful and trusting of God - it's tempting to be bitter and callous and angry, but sound in faith.
Sound in love, kind to others, reaching out to them. Sound in endurance or patience, as the King James says, because I think it gets difficult to be patient with yourself and others.
Reflecting Christ’s Life
If we can get all those right, we'd look a lot like Jesus, wouldn't we? So Paul was telling Titus to teach the older men to be this way. But maybe we can all learn from this little list. Maybe one or more of those qualities has jumped out at you a bit.
But here's the bottom line. With our eyes fixed on God, let's live life in a way that might describe how Jesus lived His life, whether we're young, whether we're old, whether we're somewhere in between. May our lives reflect the life of Jesus, so that when people look at the way we live, they see something of Him.
