Appropriate sound teaching vital for all

Text Titus 2:1 Time 07/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the letter of Paul to Titus and so far we have looked at the first chapter – the introduction, Paul's instructions about elders and his warning against false teachers. We come next to Chapter 2 and that chapter begins with a call to Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Paul spells out what the various groups in the church need to be taught in particular.

We will look this week chiefly at verse 1 but touching on some of the verses that follow too. Before coming to the teaching for specific groups we want to make some general remarks on teaching in the church. Our main point is that we must

Recognise the need of appropriate, sound teaching by the pastor and others to all members.

We want to say six things about this

1. Recognise the need for teaching

Chapter 2 begins You must teach. One of the chief parts of the work of a pastor or anyone who is in a similar role is to teach. This is why one of the qualifications of an elder (1:9) is that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. This is why Paul speaks of pastors as pastors and teachers in Ephesians 4:11. Paul speaks in quite a similar way in 1 Timothy 4:11-16

Command and teach these things he says ... Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

This is why it is necessary not only for the minister to have the ability to teach but also to be trained for his task, usually by means of pre-service and in-service training. We do not expect primary or secondary school teachers to do their work without such training and so it would be rather unreasonable to suppose that ministers do not need training too.

There are various ways of teaching, of course – not only through preaching but also through more informal means but teaching is an important part of the minister's task.

2. Recognise the need for sound teaching

Paul does not simply say You must teach but You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Literally, Titus is told to teach what fits in with sound doctrine, what comports with it. It is like a ruler stood on end and he has to match up to it. We have already spent some time looking at what Paul has to say against false doctrine in 1:10-16. We noted too when we looked at 1:9 and its reference to the trustworthy message as it has been taught that when it comes to teaching, the New Testament has a very clear idea of orthodoxy.

The New Testament has a clear and coherent message that is trustworthy and reliable. We noted the various reference to this in the pastoral letters.

1 Timothy 1:10, 11 talks of whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

2:7 Paul speaks of himself as a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

4:6 Paul urges Timothy to be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

4:11 Command and teach these things (not anything else) he says.

6:2, 3 These are the things you are to teach and urge on them ... the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ ... godly teaching.

2 Timothy 1:13, 14 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you - guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

4:3 the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Also, Romans 6:17, 16:17 - Paul writes of wholeheartedly obeying the form of teaching to which you were committed and the teaching which you have learned

1 Corinthians 11:2 speaks of holding to the teachings (traditions) just as I passed them on to you.

In more than one place Paul talks of what he received a tradition and passing it on to them.

1 Thessalonians 3:6 speaks of the teaching you received from us.

Plus 2 John 9, 10 and Jude 3 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him ... the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

It is not enough that a church has plenty of teaching, the teaching must be sound, wholesome, healthy, orthodox, free from corruption. In order to do that there have to be two things.

1. There has to be a clear biblical framework to the teaching. That is where a confession can be so useful for a church. That is one reason why I would like us to be more familiar with the 1689 Confession than we are. Sound preachers are usually those who have a good outline of theology in their heads that guides them as they teach.

2. We cannot put our faith in confessions, of course, however good they are, and so we have to keep going back to the Bible itself in order to learn sound doctrine. A sound preacher will be one who is always drawing people back to the Word of God.

3. Recognise the need for appropriate teaching. So in verse 1 Paul calls on Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. From verse 2 he goes on to say that Titus should tailor his teaching for the various people who make up the churches. He talks first about what to teach the older men, then the older women and after that the younger women and the younger men, who clearly included Titus himself. From verse 9 he begins to speak to slaves who were a special category in the churches. The same pattern can be discerned when you look at the beginning of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. Elsewhere, Paul does something slightly different, as in Ephesians and Colossians, where he speaks in turn to wives, husbands, children, fathers and then again slaves and masters.

This is a reminder then that the teaching ought to be appropriate to people. Yes, most often the teaching addresses everyone but at times it can get quite specific and certainly it needs to be appropriate to the age and circumstances of the people being addressed. This is why the sermon must attempt to address all sorts of different people.

The Puritan William Perkins recommended dividing the congregation into seven types and endeavouring to reach each different type. He wrote of

• Ignorant and unteachable unbelievers.
• Ignorant but teachable unbelievers.
• Those who have some knowledge but remain unhumbled.
• The humbled.
• Those who believe.
• Those who are fallen, either in faith or in practice.
• A mixed group. The inclusion of this category shows that many more could be thought of.

This is also the argument for specific ministry to children, young people, women and men. Obviously we must avoid needless division but we are bound to have different needs and different situations and good teaching will take note of that and make the teaching appropriate.

4. Recognise that teaching is not the sole province of the pastor

We have been thinking chiefly of the role of the pastor here but it is clear that Paul does not envisage all the teaching being done by the pastor. At the end of verse 3 where he has described what the older women must be taught he says that rather than being slanderers or addicted to much wine they must teach what is good. Then he says in verse 4 they can train the younger women.

Paul does not envisage the minister spending long sessions counselling the younger women for obvious reasons. I don't think we can establish that a pastor never counsels a young woman. Paul's word to Timothy is to treat younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. Clearly the bulk of the personal teaching to young women, however, is to be done by the older women.

That very fact shows that the work of teaching is not confined to the ordained minister but is something that we should expect to see going on among the members of the congregation more informally as well as formally by the leadership.

5. Recognise that all of us need teaching

A further point to be made is that we all need teaching. Paul doesn't simply say train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, etc, ... Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. He clearly expects Titus to teach the older men and the older women as well. “You can't teach an old dog new tricks” is not a saying Paul would agree with. He clearly believed in what is sometimes called lifelong learning. Even older people still have things to learn about being temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance and being reverent in the way they live, not ... slanderers or drunkards but those who teach what is good. I don't think this is just because many of them were new converts. Rather, even in old age, we have things to learn. In 1 Timothy 5:1 Paul says to Timothy Do not rebuke an older man harshly, teaching older folk has to be done with care (especially if you are younger than they are) however he does say but exhort him as if he were your father. In Titus 3:8 Paul says after his trustworthy saying, And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone

6. Recognise the impact that sound teaching can have

Why is Paul so keen for Titus to do this teaching? There are many reasons no doubt – not least so that they will be competent to teach one another. In 2:5 he adds that one of the reasons it is important for the older women to teach the younger women to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands is ... so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, in 2:11, after setting out what must be taught to slaves he says it is so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. What Paul has in mind here is that if the churches in Crete have a reputation for encouraging in women a lack of self-control, a lack of purity, a lack of business at home, a lack of kindness; if Christian women are known for refusing to be subject to their husbands and Christian slaves are insolent, light fingered and untrustworthy then it is going to do the gospel message harm. If that sort of thing happens it will give pagans an excuse to denounce the gospel. It will repel people rather than attracting people to the message.

When we talk about sound teaching, we tend to think of the good it will do to those who receive the teaching first hand, however we ought to remember that good teaching has an impact way beyond its immediate audience. If the lesson taught finds its target than it has an effect on all those who that person comes into contact with. That is something we should never forget.

It is obvious really when you think about it.
Here is Ingrid. She is a Christian woman but she is badly taught. She can be a little wild at times. She is at home with flirtatious remarks at work. Although she is married she seems to be out several nights a week at parties. She has a sharp tongue and can be quite thoughtless sometimes and is quite happy to contradict her husband in public. Isn't such a person going to give people an excuse to malign the word of God?

Or here is Eric, another badly taught Christian. He is a lowly paid worker on minimum wage. He doesn't really like his rather dead end job but there seems to be no way out. This makes him rather cheeky to his bosses and they don't consider him very reliable. They also think he is on some sort of fiddle although they haven't worked out exactly what he is up to yet. Again, it is not going to make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive to unbelievers.

Karen and Derek, however, are quite different. Both well taught Christians. She is a housewife – a little straight-laced for some, perhaps, but happily married. She's always doing some act of kindness or another. He doesn't have a great job but he puts his heart into it and is known to be very trustworthy. There is talk of him being promoted soon. How attractive he makes the gospel just by his very way of life.

Never underestimate the impact for good that a well taught Christian can have.