The Word This Week
Titus 2:1...
If that which is of the Spirit of Christ is not practical as well as spiritual, then you have not submitted yourself fully to the leading of Christ.
Paul is telling Titus the Word of God is to have great effect within the church, but unless that effect translates into the home, and into everyday life, it has not had the effect it is meant to have.
Some might say, (and I think Jesus might say,) unless the Word of God has impacted your everyday life it has meant nothing to you. Paul is not interested in the Cretans appearing spiritual in church and remaining unchanged in their home life.
And so, as the letter to Titus continues Paul speaks of the home life of the follower of Jesus, and provides some very practical counsel, as well as wise.
(Here we are very much reminded God sees ALL our lives, not just the life we present too Him in church.)
I find it interesting this counsel is divided between the lives of men and the lives of women. Our modern concepts blurring of distinctions between the roles of men and women are nowhere found in God’s Word. In fact, it becomes an important test of whether or not we are placing our lives in submission to the Word of God. When we buy into and employ modern definitions of gender roles we are, in effect, denying the Word of God IS the Word of God.
Importantly, we see church begins with the teaching of God’s Word children receive from their parents in the home. Young ladies are to learn God’s Word from their mothers, and young men are to learn God’s Word from their fathers. The teaching at church is meant to reinforce what has already been learned in the home.
Outside the home, in our working life, or in general society and in friendships, school or the workplace, younger men are to be learning from older men, and younger women are to be learning from older women.
This is how the Word of God becomes the foundation of culture and is infused into every aspect of life without compartmentalization. It is not discriminatory, and it is not sexist. It is the best life can spiritually and practically be for whoever is willing to learn from the Word of God, and to gain from the experience of walking many years according to the Word of God from our elders.
Pastor Bill
If that which is of the Spirit of Christ is not practical as well as spiritual, then you have not submitted yourself fully to the leading of Christ.
Paul is telling Titus the Word of God is to have great effect within the church, but unless that effect translates into the home, and into everyday life, it has not had the effect it is meant to have.
Some might say, (and I think Jesus might say,) unless the Word of God has impacted your everyday life it has meant nothing to you. Paul is not interested in the Cretans appearing spiritual in church and remaining unchanged in their home life.
And so, as the letter to Titus continues Paul speaks of the home life of the follower of Jesus, and provides some very practical counsel, as well as wise.
(Here we are very much reminded God sees ALL our lives, not just the life we present too Him in church.)
I find it interesting this counsel is divided between the lives of men and the lives of women. Our modern concepts blurring of distinctions between the roles of men and women are nowhere found in God’s Word. In fact, it becomes an important test of whether or not we are placing our lives in submission to the Word of God. When we buy into and employ modern definitions of gender roles we are, in effect, denying the Word of God IS the Word of God.
Importantly, we see church begins with the teaching of God’s Word children receive from their parents in the home. Young ladies are to learn God’s Word from their mothers, and young men are to learn God’s Word from their fathers. The teaching at church is meant to reinforce what has already been learned in the home.
Outside the home, in our working life, or in general society and in friendships, school or the workplace, younger men are to be learning from older men, and younger women are to be learning from older women.
This is how the Word of God becomes the foundation of culture and is infused into every aspect of life without compartmentalization. It is not discriminatory, and it is not sexist. It is the best life can spiritually and practically be for whoever is willing to learn from the Word of God, and to gain from the experience of walking many years according to the Word of God from our elders.
Pastor Bill