A Message for Old and Young Men and Women

We are continuing our series through Paul’s letter to Titus. Last week we examined Titus 1:10-16 in a sermon entitled: WHO NEEDS CORRECTION? In that message we looked at three groups of people that are in need of correction.  DIVISIVE PEOPLE NEED CORRECTION (Titus 1:10) DECEIVED PEOPLE NEED CORRECTION (Titus 1:12-14) DEFILED PEOPLE NEED CORRECTION (Titus 1:15, 16)Never has the church needed more desperately to hear the words of Titus than it does today. Our text makes God’s plan, God’s assignments, and God’s roles for men and women in the church plain and clear. Sometime ago, Fox News had a story that said psychiatrists were saying that masculinity should be viewed as a mental disorder. These are the same experts who say it is perfectly normal for a man to identify as a woman. Let me put it to you as plainly, succinctly, clearly, and lovingly as possible: the mentally disturbed and spiritually bankrupt are those who believe that men can be women, women can be men, and that masculinity in men and femininity in women is wrong.We live in a culture that is drowning in gender confusion. The lines have become blurred, and we are groping about trying to understand what it means for a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman, what it means for a man to be masculine and a woman to be feminine. It is perfectly clear that the cultural engineers that dominate the media, our educational system – from the preschools to the university- and other strategic places of influence want to neutralize, if not eliminate, the gender distinctions and differences God has hardwired into human beings (Genesis 1:26, 27). In our text, Paul outlined God’s expectations for each of the four major groups in the church in terms of gender and age. He defined godly living that is “proper for sound doctrine.” Though the word itself does not appear, the driving concept in these verses can be summed up in one important word: discipleship. Older men need to disciple younger men, just as older women need to disciple younger women. The gospel is to produce godliness in the lives of those within the church, whether old or young, male or female. A healthy church should have both old and young, and they should both minister to one another. Paul gives us A MESSAGE FOR OLD AND YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN.