Blog In Audio:
Greetings;
Leaders lead the community of Christ in practical realities in the growing process of maturity as a community of Christ. The family members of Christ are to be sober in the purposes of God, reverent to the presence of God, and temperate with personal opinions, exhibiting a willing and teachable spirit in all things. Those in the community of Christ are growing in maturity in being sound in faith to the internal voice of God, sound to a testimony of Christ with the obvious love of God, and sound to the patience of God in the process of Christ in all. Those who lead must seek these things and lesser things must not distract them. They must teach those they lead to do the same through their personal examples and through a clear presentation of the principles, patterns, and values found within the heart of God the Father of His family in the earth.
Titus 2:1-5 But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things — that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
Older men were to be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, sound in love, and sound in patience. Paul’s words to Titus are as true today as they were in his instruction to Titus. These are not instructions for religious living. They are common sense instructions for good character. God’s children should be sober in the purposes of God and not distracted by selfish ventures for personal opinions or personal gain. They should be reverent to the presence of God. They should seek God’s presence in all things and be aware of Him in all situations. A child of God should be temperate with personal opinions, exhibiting a willing and teachable spirit in all things. These are all marks of maturity in Christ. Christ-like character and faith are testimonies of members of the community of Christ and older men are to set an example that maturing members can follow. Paul’s instructions were not given to control what a person can do or cannot do. They were instructions for good character. Leaders are called to exhort, encourage, and challenge older men in the community of God to walk in this character in the community of Christ and in the world as a member of God’s family.
This is also true for women. They too were, and are, to live their lives with a testimony of good character. Their lifestyles were, and are, to be godly and honorable. Their behavior is not to be religious but practically real in demonstrating the character of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit should be a manifest attribute of the character of a woman of God. The character of the flesh is to be self-gratifying in behavior and to seek to take advantage of others through false accusations. This is not fitting for the community of God.
Desires of the world are not the focus or the motivation of the heart of a daughter or a son of God. Even as Paul instructed Titus, leaders must help men and women live for God and for the life of others. This is the testimony of the family of God. Leaders teach those they lead to live life in a godly and honorable way. Even the practical everyday things of life are spiritual. The love of a wife for her husband and a mother’s love for her children are a spiritual reality of life. No one is to live self-seeking lives or exhibit self-seeking behavior. These things are not meant to be a law of order, but the testimony of life-giving actions and attitudes that make for healthy family relationships in the body of Christ. These things reveal a good witness of Christ to the world in which we live.
Leaders don’t just lead Christian activities or services of ministry. They lead people in becoming a testimony of a godly lifestyle in Christ in the midst of an everyday world. Teaching people and families to be real to the character and nature of Christ is real church stuff! This includes the young. They were to have integrity in their way of life.
Titus 2:6-8 Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.
A culture of honor is indicative of a community of Christ. Honesty and integrity are normal expectations for members of the family of God. The expressions of our words must be life giving and honorable to God and one another. These are the real issues emulated and led by leaders in the body of Christ. It is part of the everyday environment of the community of God that causes children to grow in the knowledge of God.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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