The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 3 (Titus 2:5)

Holy Women – Pt. 3Sunday, October 12th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 2:1-5
Prayer
O Father adorn our soul with gladness, make our lives to mirror the life of Jesus, who from love for You, laid down His life for us. Conform us now to the image of Your Son, as we hear his word preached, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
A few weeks ago, in our first sermon on Holy Women, we asked the questions, What is beauty? And, What makes something beautiful?
In answer to those questions, we said that beauty is that which gives pleasure upon being seen, and we said that what gives pleasure to our sight is the beholding (the apprehension) of three qualities: 1) Unity, 2) Due Proportion, and 3) Splendor. When we see that something is 1) united as an integrated whole, 2) ordered and well-proportioned in all its parts, and 3) that it has good color and appropriate brightness/clarity, we cannot help but say that that thing is beautiful.
Now this morning we are going to consider 4 more virtues that God wants the older women to teach the younger women, and which if acquired have the potential to make a woman beautiful in the eyes of God. Those virtues are enumerated in verse 5 of our text and they are: 1) Chastity, 2) Domesticity, 3) Goodness, and 4) Obedience to one’s husband.
Now before we consider each of those virtues in depth, I want to highlight why I said that these virtues only have the potential to make a person beautiful in the eyes of God. That is because without Jesus, without genuine love for God as THE REASON WHY you are pursuing these things, no changes you try to make will be of any ultimate value to you. It will not serve your salvation if Christ is absent from your efforts.
As we heard earlier from 1 Timothy 2:15, women will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control. That is a big IF.
To put it another way, the “trad life” without Jesus is just another way to hell. Conservative politics without Jesus can only get you so far. Yes, we must reject the feminism of our age. Yes, we must oppose the many assaults on the natural family. But recovery of good traditions and family values must be animated by an authentic love for Jesus, otherwise, what we are? We are Pharisees, cleaning the outside of the cup when the inside is still filthy. Or worse, doing what Jesus condemns in Matthew 15:6 when he says to them, Thus have ye made the commandment of God void by your tradition.
Christ wants a vessel that is clean inside and out. And how do you clean the inside of your soul? It says in Acts 15:9, God purifies our hearts by faith. Faith is what make all things pure to the pure.
It says likewise in Hebrews 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God.
And in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says, without charity, I am nothing.
So you must always keep before your eyes those things most essential, namely the ultimate WHY of your actions, the WHY of your pursuit of chastity, or homemaking, or goodness, and submission.
It it’s just because you want to fit in at Christ Covenant Church, okay, but that isn’t the same thing as living faith. Or if it’s just because you want to rebel against the absurdities of our technocratic globalist age, again that is not the same thing as faith working by love. What must motivate our acquisition of new virtues is that we simply want to please God. We love Jesus and want to make him happy. That’s Christianity 101 and we must never forget it.
Heaven and Hell hangs on that distinction. And so I want you to hear this sermon within that larger gospel frame. It says in Colossians 1:17 that in Christ all things hold together. Meaning, without Christ, your life, your efforts, will fail and fall apart.
So what is the gravitational center of your soul? Is it truly Christ crucified, resurrected, and reigning, or is it your petty self? Is what your words and actions revolve around the Holy Spirit of God, or is it worldly desire? This is the warfare of all the saints between virtue and vice, and this is the contrast Titus 2 is setting up for the Christians in Crete. Paul is describing for them what a life that harmonious with gospel can blossom into.
And so with that in mind let us consider these four virtues each in their turn.
Again, we read in verse 5, Paul says to Titus. I want the older women to teach the younger women to be chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. So the first virtue we have here is chastity. What is chastity?
#1 – Chastity (ἁγνάς, pure, holy)
This word chastity comes from the idea of chastising/disciplining your natural desire for pleasure, especially physical or sexual pleasure.
To be a chaste woman then is to keep your sensual appetites in subordination to the law of God. This means no adultery, no fornication, no sex outside of marriage, no wanton lustful looks, no seduction, no romantic attachments to people who are not your husband. More positively it means desiring union with your husband as one of the great blessings of marriage, and then also desiring spiritual union with God through a chaste soul.
Of bodily chastity, it says in Hebrews 13:4, Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
That is to say, sex within marriage is a wonderful gift (it is honorable), but outside of marriage it brings shame, it brings destruction, it defiles you.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:2-5 that regular intimacy within marriage is also a protection against sin. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
So chastity is this virtue of sexual contentment and benevolence. It is seeking your spouse’s good above your own, and acknowledging that your body belongs to the person you are one flesh with.
This also means being patient with one another when sickness or providence prevents you from coming together.
It means imitating the example of Job, who says in Job 31:1, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon another?”
A chaste woman moderates and directs her passions, so that the words of Song of Solomon 7:10 become true of her, I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
We learn in 1 Corinthians 6 that what we do with our bodies has a direct impact on our spiritual condition. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We learn also in 2 Corinthians 11:2, that sexual chastity is the analogy for spiritual chastity. Paul says to the whole church, For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
So your physical chastity is to be ordered towards your spiritual chastity, because our bodies belong to God, our spirits belong to God, Christ died to purchase us entirely, and thus we want to remain pure for Him. So chastity is how we keep covenant with God and the person we are married to, it is sexual fidelity.
This brings us to our second virtue which is…
#2 – Domesticity (οἰκουρούς)
In Greek this is just one word, οἰκουρούς, which means to keep watch like a guardian over the household.
So when the KJV has “keepers at home” the idea is not passive, as if you are on house arrest and cannot leave, being kept at home, but rather that you are the one doing the keeping, actively watching, managing, fulfilling the household duties. You should think of Adam in the garden, his job was to tend and keep it. Just so a woman tends and keeps the home.
Other translations go with, “homemakers” (NKJV), or “working at home” (ESV), or “fulfilling their duties at home” (NET). And so I think our English word domesticity/domestic helps capture this idea of homemaking as an art, and as a vocation.
In 1 Timothy 5:13-14 Paul says something similar about why he wants the younger widows to get married, And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not. Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house (οἰκοδεσποτεῖν), give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
So God wants women to manage the house under their husband’s authority, not wandering about as busybodies. If you recall our four sermons on the Proverbs 31 woman, that passage and those sermons are really an exposition of what this single word domesticity can look like for a Christian woman (this is a huge category). So go back and listen to all those if you want more details on this subject.
For now, just observe that our culture is at war with this virtue, and has set up major economic, legal, and social obstacles to the very existence of productive households. Many women would love to be homemakers (working at and from home), but it’s just not feasible for many families.
So sometimes people ask me, “Is it a sin for a wife to work outside the home?” And my answer is usually very disappointing because it’s usually something, “well it depends, how much time do you have?”
If the woman is willfully neglecting her duties before God as a wife and mother and homemaker, then yes, that is sin (and something needs to change!). But there are also circumstances where it can be good, lawful, and wise, for a woman to earn wages, even from some outside employer, especially when that work is in service of the household and does not prevent her from doing her most essential calling.
It really is a question of your priorities, your duties, your stage in life, the ages and number of your children, your skillset, your husband’s vocation, and your current financial commitments. It is also a question of your trajectory. Maybe you are still paying off certain debts, and Psalm 15:4 applies to you which says, He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.
So depending on what those prior commitments are, and whether or not you can be released from them, God has a plan for your flourishing (He always meets where we are not only where we should be), but it might require sacrifices (in fact it almost always does!), it might require a change in your standard of living, or where you live, or how big your house is, it might require a plan with multiple phases to it.
Whatever the case, it is here that you really ought to seek out wise counsel. Pray with your husband, pray for your husband, ask God to guide him so you have a shared vision for your life and future together.
And as you sort through that counsel remember the words of James 3:16-17 which says, For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
If that is the spirit in which you are seeking heavenly wisdom, God will show you the way.
God knows your heart. He knows if you are abdicating your duties and being selfish, or honestly desiring to fulfill them. Keeping the home is a duty he assigns to you as wives and mothers. So embrace it, aspire to get better at it. Treat your homemaking like the art that it really is, and remember the words of Colossian 3:23-24, And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
So older women set the example here, teach the younger women to be domestic, and to serve Christ in and through keeping the home.
This brings us to our third virtue which is goodness.
#3 – Goodness (ἀγαθάς)
And this virtue does not need too much explaining. Goodness, like beauty, is a transcendental. And we define goodness as simply that which is desirable. Goodness is that which is desirable.
Jesus says in the gospels that God is very goodness itself. His nature is goodness all the way through. This is what Jesus means in Matthew 19:17 when he says, Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
So any creaturely goodness that we possess down here is only a participation of God’s more perfect and heavenly goodness that He is. And therefore, the more we align ourselves to God and His will, the more good that we become.
Again, this is why faith and love are so essential if you want to become good. As it says in Psalm 16:2, I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.
In practice this looks like not repaying evil with evil, insult with insult, but rather like God, being patient, kind, compassionate and merciful.
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:15, See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all.
He says likewise in Ephesians 4:31-5:2, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
What is Goodness? It is the best smelling perfume a woman can wear. It is desirable in the eyes of God, and makes you more desirable to your husband.
Fourth and finally, Paul says, the women are to be obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
#4 – Obedience To Your Husband (ὑποτασσομένας τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν)
Here is perhaps the hardest of all virtues for most women, to submit to and obey your husband, when you do not agree with him.
And this is really the test of faith (through many trials we must enter the kingdom). Do you believe that God knew what He was doing, when he made this a universal command for marriage? Did God not know that men are sinners? Did God not anticipate that your husband would sometimes (or often) get it wrong? Do you think yourself wiser than God, and that you can setup marital roles better than He can?
Countless Christians pay lip service to the doctrine of headship and submission,but many women have never obeyed their husband, cheerfully, reverently, honoring him from the heart. Maybe you have submitted begrudgingly, on the outside, you’ve done the thing, while inside you are furious, resentful, and bitter. Is that Christian submission? No. If that is you, you need to seek forgiveness from God and your husband for that kind of attitude.
So I could give here all the appropriate warnings to husbands about not exasperating your wife, and being unreasonable, but that is not this sermon. And if you look at our text, Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit does not add any qualifications to this command. He just says it and moves on. And so here we can practice not being wiser than God? Let’s just hear it, obey it, and not make excuses.
Remember that warning from earlier in Titus 1:16, Paul says there are people in the church who profess that they know God; but in works they deny him. Do don’t be the woman who denies God by refusing to obey her husband.
Don’t pretend that your situation is somehow always the exception to the rule. Here’s the general rule: Unless your husband is commanding you to sin, God says obey him.
And if you wonder what to do when your husband is not obeying God, God also has an answer for that. It says in 1 Peter 3:1-2, Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.
Fear of what? Fear of God. Because remember it is God you are submitting to when you obey Your husband’s lawful commands.
Remember the argument in 1 Peter 3 starts way back in 1 Peter 2 with the command for all Christians to be in subjection to the civil authorities.
Peter says, Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1 Peter 2:12-17).
This is the same logic as what Paul says here in Titus to the women. Women are to be obedient to their own husbands, so that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Our marriages are either shining testimonies of the gospel, or they are cause for people to blaspheme. Those are the stakes.
So how seriously do you take the word of God? Do you trifle with it, do you scoff at it, do you pick and choose which things you want to observewhile ignoring those things that would inconvenience you?
Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Martin Luther once said, “through faith we are justified, through good works God is glorified.”
So young women, wives, glorify God by honoring your husband from the heart. Not with eyeservice as pleasing men, but truly as pleasing God.
Conclusion
Imagine these four virtues are like precious stones buried in the earth. 1) The pearl of Chastity, 2) the diamond of Domesticity, 3) the emerald of Goodness, and 4) the ruby of Obedience.
What faith in Christ does is discover these virtues, it digs them out of the ground,it cuts them into the right shape, and polishes them to show off their splendor. Faith beautifies the virtues.
And then what love for God does is bind them all together, like gemstones perfectly set within a golden crown.
And what your life here is meant to be, is the seeking of that crown so that by it, God may be praised, hallowed, and glorified.
It says in Revelation 4:9-11, Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
Ladies, God created you for glory, to reflect His infinite beauty, and so pursue these virtues from faith and love, for the glory of Christ, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 2 (Titus 2:4-5)

Holy Women – Pt. 2Sunday, September 28th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 2:4-5
Prayer
O God of grace, to whom all majesty belongs, bestow upon us now the warmth and radiance of thy heavenly light. Send forth the brightness of thy Spirit into our dark and frigid souls, revive in us again the roaring fires of charity, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
When a girl is young and unmarried, she has all kinds of hopes, dreams, and expectations for what her future “real life” shall one day be. Depending on the kinds of novels she reads or does not read, depending on the kinds of movies and shows she watches or is not allowed to watch, depending on the kinds of stories that capture her imagination in youth, she will inevitably develop some very (either) reasonable or unreasonable expectations for what falling in love will one day be like.
Perhaps she imagines her future husband will be handsome, tall, and wealthy. Oh, and a Christian, of course. Perhaps she imagines meeting him when she is just about to graduate college (or high school, depending on the girl). Whenever it happens it is at a time most convenient for her. By then, she is 22 (or 18, or 28, whichever she prefers), she knows who she is (or at least thinks she knows), she’s an educated young woman who has made her parents proud. He has a job and can afford to take care of her, her parents like him. So, they get married. Awhile later they have a child. And then another child. A few more years go by a few more children arrive, and suddenly this formerly young unmarried girl is living that “real adult life” she was always looking forward to.
And it is then that the question becomes: How does real life match up with those youthful expectations? Does it meet them? Does it fall short of them (or exceed them)? Is life easier or more difficult than you thought it would be?
Whenever reality falls short of our expectations, we are tempted to become disenchanted, discouraged, disappointed. And while that can actually be good for many people who have unbiblical or unrealistic expectations for their life, for the Christian, God intends for us to live a life that is constantly enchanted by the Holy Spirit.
This word enchantment comes to us from the Latin incantare, which literally means to sing into. And the idea is that a person can be filled, either by evil spirits, the music of the world, demons, and sorcerers, OR, it can be filled by the Holy Spirit, as Paul says in Ephesians 5:19-20, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is what Christian enchantment is supposed to look like. Moreover, this is what God expects to be normative amongst His holy saints (you and me), not the exception. According to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, basic Christianity is more like a musical than anything else. And the fact that God gave 150 inspired songs to sing, is proof that this is the case.
So what is the soundtrack of your life? What is the music and melody and lyrics animating your soul each day? Is your life enchanted by the beauty of God and His infinite wisdom, or is it bewitched by the things of this world that are passing away?
Now I begin with this idea of enchantment, because in our text this morning, Titus 2:4-5, God has 8 specific exhortations for young wives and young mothers. For this class of younger women who are often tempted to become disenchanted, and discontent with their husbands, their children, and their very busy and sleep deprived lives.
Marriage and motherhood can be a most romantic and rewarding vocation, if you are virtuous. It can also be a hell of your own making if God is far from your thoughts.
And so God, knowing exactly what you need to hear, assigns 8 virtues for younger women to pursue, and which if pursued, shall re-enchant them to a life of joy and thanksgiving in the Holy Spirit. That is the true enchantment God wants for all His people.
And so this morning we are going to look at just the first four of these virtues, and then in a future sermon we’ll look at the last four. So let me read again verses 4-5, and recall that these are all things the older women are to teach the younger women. This is the core curriculum for biblical women’s ministry.
Verses 4-5
4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Outline of the Sermon
The first four qualities the older women must embody and then teach to the younger women are:
1. Sobriety
2. Love for her husband.
3. Love for her children.
4. Discretion
So let us consider these together.
#1 – Younger women are to be sober (ἵνα σωφρονίζωσι τὰς νέας)
If this sounds like a virtue we have already studied, that is because we have. More than any another virtue, Paul has made this a requirement for bishops/pastors (Titus 1:8), for the aged men (Titus 2:2), for older women and younger women (here in Titus 2:4), and this same virtue is the one thing Paul will charge to the younger men. He says later in Titus 2:6, Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
So God thinks we need this virtue and we need it badly, therefore he repeats it again and again, and in fact he assigns this virtue to the young women twice. Our fourth virtue which in English is translated as discretion shares the same root as what is translated here as sober. So what exactly is this virtue?
At the most general level, this Greek word for sober urges us to be self-controlled. Meaning we have self-possession and self-mastery over our desires, our emotions, our thoughts and our appetites.
So young women, how much do you possess yourself? How much control do you exercise over what you say and don’t say? How much responsibility are you taking for your own thoughts, words, actions and the things you allow to influence you (friends, media, entertainment)?
When you sin, do you own your sins all the way to the ground? Or do you imitate the first woman who blamed the serpent, who chose deception, and refused to take ownership for disobeying the one thing God told them not to do?
It says in 1 John 1:8-10, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Self-control/sobriety means you do not deny or diminish your free agency as an image bearer of God (as a moral creature). The Bible says it is in your sinful nature to blame others, to blame your circumstances, and our culture loves to cater to that blame shifting mentality (men blame women, women blame men and everything in between).
In our land today (in large part because of feminism), there is a false gospel out there that says,“All women are victims. And because of your sacred status as victim, you are thereby absolved from any responsibility for anything bad you may have ever done. Any sins or actions you do after your baptism into the cult of victimhood are justified because of the greater evil that was done to you. You are just a product of your environment, society is to blame.”
But think about what the does to women? It shuts the kingdom of God in their faces. It robs women of their dignity, of their moral agency, and of the freedom they could have if they confessed their sins completely and honestly to God. Yes, people have and will sin against you. Yes, there are real victims. But without confession of what you have personally actually done, you cannot ever be free! The wages of sin is still death, and death cannot be escaped except by the precious blood of Jesus. You have to plead the blood, and that means pleading guilty! Have you done that?
The way this false gospel usually plays out is that some woman is genuinely sinned against (sometimes very grievously), but then she is told and counseled to use that real sin against her as the forever excuse and justification to cover for all her sins. But what is that? That is a fake and false justification. It is fig leaves, and fig leaves cannot clothe you, at least not permanently, you need the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to you.
Jesus never said, “Truly truly I say to you, If someone sins against you, you may sin back without guilt.” Or, “So long as your sins are not as bad as their sins, you don’t have to confess them.” No, Jesus is constantly telling us, look in the mirror. Look at the plank in your eye. Look at yourself, your sin, and nobody else. And then come and look at me, look at my cross, look what I have done for you!
We see in John 8, with the woman caught in adultery, what happens when a woman truly knows her sins, she knows she is justly condemned,Jesus says to her, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” She said, “No man, Lord.” And Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom 8:1).
Against Christ, against Romans 8, there are many false gospels out there, fig leaf gospels, that tell you to hide from the light, to cover and blame everyone else. Of such people who teach these false gospels it says in 2 Peter 2:19, While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.
Paul says likewise in 2 Timothy 3:6,For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins…
The devil wants to keep you women loaded down with sins. He hates forgiveness. He abhors absolution. He detests that part of the liturgy where I say, because you have confessed your sins, holding nothing back, it is my joy to announce to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ!
The devil wants to make you entitled, embittered, and full of resentment, not just because it makes you miserable, but also because it makes you more easily manipulated by his demonic hordes. But Christ has come to set you free. And that freedom comes by sober confession, by not holding anything back, and casting yourself upon the mercy of Christ.
It says in 1 John 3:8, He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
And so against all those false fig leaf gospels our there God says, teach the young women to be sober. To be self-controlled in submission to the Word of God.
This brings us to the second and third virtues which I will combine together because they overlap.
#2 – To love their husbands (φιλάνδρους εἶναι)
#3 – To love their children (φιλοτέκνους)
In Greek these are just one-word virtues, φιλάνδρους, signifies affection for one’s husband, or better yet, affection for your man.
And φιλοτέκνους signifies affections for one’s children.
Now we might wonder, is it really necessary for God to say this? Aren’t affections for your husband and children natural affections that every woman has?
Yes and no. (Yes in potency, not always in act.) Love is supposed to be a natural affection, but there are many people who have declared war on their own nature. This is what LGBTQ+ is, this is what elevating your career over your own children is, it is a war against nature that cannot be won, because God is the author of our nature.
And so love for husband and children needs to be explicitly stated as the standard God has for wives and mothers, so that you can actively cultivate this within yourselves.
Affections are like a vine on a trellis, they can be directed, formed, and taught where to grow. It says in Psalm 128:3, Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants all around your table. That is the romance of a Christian home. It has an affectionate and fruitful wife like a vine the center.
So ladies, your husband is the head of the house, but you are the heart, so what kind of heart do you have? Is it respectful towards your head, tender towards your children (those little olive shoots), is affectionate, forgiving, joyful? Or has your heart grown cold towards your husband, and irritable towards your children? What is the adornment of your heart? Is it hot with anger, cold with bitterness, or warm and welcoming like the arms of God?
While love is meant to be a natural affection common to all, the Christian life is no merely natural life, it is a super-natural life, what the Bible calls a “living in the Spirit.” And what distinguishes natural love from supernatural love, is that supernatural love (charity) loves someone simply because God loves them, full stop.
While natural love is based on what we may find appealing in someone (they’re handsome or cute or pretty), supernatural love is a participation in God’s love, and God’s love causes loveliness in other people. God’s love is gracious and bestows goodness where it is lacking. And there is a world of difference between those two kinds of love. To love someone for their own inherent loveliness, and to love someone in spite of their lack of loveliness. In what way has God loved you?
Supernatural affections come to us, when we first recognize our own wretchedness, the ugliness of our own heart, the perversity and pride of our own thoughts, and then we see just how much God has loved us in spite of ourselves. And when we truly know just how affectioned God has been towards us, then we can see other fellow sinners in that same light.
Charity sees people (even our husband and children) the way God sees them, as broken image bearers in need of healing, and as people who God loved so much He sent His own Son to die for them.
The gospel should change the whole reason for why we love people.Grace should elevate our natural loves to become supernatural loves.
Jesus describes this in Luke 6:32, 35, But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them [mere natural affection]… But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
And so ladies, if your husband or children are ungrateful and evil does it excuse you from loving them? No. It just means you need to remind yourself that God loved you, and was kind to you, when you were/are ungrateful and evil. If God has loved you undeservedly, then you can show affection for your husband and children even when they do not deserve it.
That’s a life of grace, and that is the kind of love that makes usexperience union with Jesus, because our hearts become one with his.
It says in 1 John 4:16, 20-21, And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him…If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother [or spouse or children], he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
So do you love your husband simply because God loves him? Do you love your children simply because God loves them? Because that kind of supernatural gracious love has the power to transform your entire household, your family’s future, not to mention your own personal destiny. So ladies, if you are the heart of the home, how healthy and affectionate is it?
Finally, we come to our fourth virtue which is discretion. And as I said earlier this is basically a species of sobriety/self-control, and so we’ll touch on this very briefly.
#4 – To be discreet (σώφρονας)
It says in Proverbs 19:11, The discretion of a woman makes her slow to anger, And her glory is to overlook a transgression.
So wives and mothers. Are you slow to get angry? Because that is a fruit of discretion. Are you thoughtful and deliberate with your decisions, or are you impulsive? Discretion is that virtue that keeps you from doing and saying things you will later regret.
It says in Proverbs 11:22, As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.
And of how to acquire this virtue it says in Proverbs 2:11, When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you.
So is God’s wisdom in your heart? Is the knowledge of Christ, his cross and his glorious resurrection pleasant unto your soul? Because that is where discretion comes from. Keeping the gospel of God upon your heart all the day.
Conclusion
It is easy to become disenchanted in this world of sin and evil and death. But what makes the Christian life an enchanted life is our blessed hope in the Savior: that Christ Jesus has conquered death, He rose the third day, he ascended to heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He shall come in glory to judge both the living and the dead.
It says in 1 Corinthians 2:9,Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man [or woman] The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
So what do you expect from God in the future? Whatever it is, the Bible says that your future “real life,” eternal life, will far exceed your greatest expectations. As it says in Romans 5:5, our hope shall not put us to shame. You will not be disenchanted in heaven.
C.S. Lewis once pointed out that for the true believer, this present life is as close to hell as we shall ever get. And so while our pains and sorrows are great, they are as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, light and momentary compared with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory that is to come.
However, for the unbeliever, for those who deny God and reject Him, this life is as close to paradise as they will ever get. For the unbeliever, this is heaven, and that should break your heart.
So what kind of perspective do you have on your present difficulties? And do you see them the way God wants to you see them? As tests to make you more virtuous, as purging to make your soul radiant. God is inviting all of us back to a life of hope in Him, which when we have such hope, makes our life enchanting again through the power of His resurrected Son. May God grant you such gracious enchantment, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 1 (Titus 2:3)

Holy Women – Pt. 1Sunday, September 21st, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:15–2:10
Prayer
O Father of all goodness, fountain of all life, pour forth now Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, fill us up again with love for heaven and heavenly things, that we may attain to that vision of You in the age to come, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Introduction
Do you know what a beautiful soul looks like? Do you know what spiritual beauty is, and how to acquire it?
In 1 Peter 3:3-4, the Apostle begins to answer this question by saying, Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
Notice that the Apostle describes here two places that beauty can be found. First, there is an external beauty of the body, the hair, the jewelry, the clothing, all things the eye can see.
According to the classic definition of beauty, beauty is simply: that which gives pleasure upon being seen.
If it delights you when you see it, that is what we call beautiful.
We could go further on and discover that there are three qualities that make something pleasurable to our eye, which the best theologians identify as:
1. Unity.
2. Due proportion.
3. Splendor.
Where there is Unity of the whole, Due Proportion of the parts, and Splendor in color, when these three come together our eye cannot help but enjoy the sight.
That is just how God made us as image bearers, and indeed we image/reflect a God who is the source of every beautiful thing and even beauty itself. All the beautiful things we see down here are imperfect participations of the perfect beauty that God is.
Now if physical/external beauty is that that which gives pleasure upon being seen, how then might we define this spiritual beauty that the Bible talks about, which is invisible to the naked eye?
I think what 1 Peter 3 and other passages suggest is that spiritual beauty is that which gives pleasure to God when God sees.
It says in 1 Samuel 16:7, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
And in Hebrews 4:13 it says, there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
So the God who sees all, knows all, and judges the beauty or ugliness of every human heart, has told us in His word how we may become beautiful in His sight (How we may please Him). And that is what this section of Titus 2:3-5 is all about. It is a guide for the women in the church to adorn themselves with a spiritual and imperishable beauty which is then reflected in their words, their actions, their attitude, and yes even in how they dress and do their hair.
And so our focus this morning will just be on verse 3, so let us hear these words again and then examine them in depth.
Verse 3
3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Outline
Here Paul sets down four areas where the older women are to be exemplary in their conduct. And we should notice that all four areas fall under the special domain of the virtue we call temperance/modesty. This also happens to be the virtue most closely connected to making things beautiful.
Recall that beauty consists in the unity, due proportion, and splendor of a thing’s form. And what temperance/modesty does to the soul is:
1) Unify the heart’s desires, and gives us integrity (wholeness, soundness in faith)
2) It maintains and keeps the due proportion between what is excessive and what is deficient.
3) It (modesty) seeks what is honorable in every situation and circumstance, and it is that honor/fittingness that gives splendor to a thing’s form.
So consider now these four areas Paul speaks of through this lens of temperance and modesty.
1. As regards a woman’s clothing and demeanor, Paul says she should be in behavior as becometh holiness. Some translations have “wearing holy attire.”
2. Second as regards their words Paul says they are to be, Not false accusers.
3. Third as regards their bodily appetites, Not given to much wine.
4. Fourth as regards the content of what they teach to others, they are to be Teachers of good things.
So let us take these exhortations one at a time.
#1 – In behavior as becometh holiness (ἐν καταστήματι ἱεροπρεπεῖς, in habitu sancto)
Some translations have reverent in behavior, or as wearing holy garments, and the idea is that a godly woman is to conduct herself like a priestess serving in the temple of God. Whatever work a woman does at any age, when done for the glory of God, is holy work.
As Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:5, it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
So young ladies (especially those at CKA), when you put on your school uniform and study to honor God (not merely to impress your peers, or to make your parents and teachers happy), that is clothing that has been sanctified to the Lord, when you are wearing it to honor Christ.
Likewise you mothers who are in the trenches, wearing the overalls, the messy apron, the dirty jeans and shirts stained with the children’s snot and vomit, when you work in your household as unto the Lord, you are wearing the pure garments of a priest.
Remember the Proverbs 31 woman. It says, sheworks diligently with her hands, and her clothing is fine linen and purple (Prov 31:22). What does the fine linen signify but purity of heart. And what is the purple but the royal splendor of a princess who has God as her King.
Under the old covenant, God specified the exact fabric, colors, gemstones, and clothing that a priest must wear when doing his priestly duties. And under the new covenant, where all of us have been made kings and priests unto God by faith, what are we commanded to wear?
Romans 13:14 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Ephesians 4:24 says, put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
It says in Revelation 19:8 of the bride of Christ, And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
These are the garments that God wants holy women wear: Good works, holy works, purity and reverence.
When that is the inner disposition of the heart, a woman will then adorn herself outwardly as becometh holiness. Or as Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:10, wearing that which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
And so Paul assigns to the older women in the church this important duty of being good examples in behavior and dress.
It is not easy to dress both modestly and tastefully in our perverted age. Just look at what our culture promotes in its magazines, movies, and TV shows. Look at what is sold online and in the clothing stores. And so we need to have grace for one another as we figure this out, and this is where mothers and grandmothers should be models to the next generation: teach your girls what reverence for God looks like inside and out.
Modesty is the governing principle, and then you need wisdom to apply that principle to your wardrobe.
Whatever the garment, Christian women should wear that which honors Christ. The external appearance should be a reflection of a quiet and gentle spirit. Are you pursuing this?
This brings us to our second exhortation which is that…
#2 – Not false accusers (μὴ διαβόλους)
Older women must not be false accusers. In Greek this word is διάβολος, a person who slanders or condemns others. And it is this same word that becomes the very name for the devil in the New Testament. Paul is saying to the elder women in the church, “Don’t be devils!” And he would not have said this unless it was a unique temptation for older women to imitate the devil in his slander.
What does the devil do? He loves to find faults. He loves to exaggerate other people’s sins (while minimizing his own), and then he weaponizes and publicizes the sins of others (whether real or made up) to stir up strife between the brethren. Many churches have been divided and burned down by such devilish women. Women who are judgmental, envious, and lie. If these women did not exist, Paul would not have told them. “Don’t be this way.”
It says in Proverbs 26:20-22, Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious person to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost body.
It is a vice of our nation to love gossip, to assassinate people’s character in public and online forums, and we have built entire industries around this sin: we call it “the news,” we call it “Facebook,” we call it “political activism.” And what is this but a forum for breaking the 9th commandment? Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Jesus says of such talebearers and liars in John 8:44, You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
So a godly woman must shun in herself evil thoughts about others. A holy woman must become deaf to evil reports, and she should be quick to shut down gossip when she hears it.
It says in Proverbs 11:13, A talebearer revealeth secrets: But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
Likewise, it says of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:26, She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
The tongue is a fire that is hard to tame, but by the power of Christ, our tongue can be sanctified to burn for God. This is what the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost signifies, that instead of using our tongues to circulate evil, we now use them to circulate good news.
We want people to say of us what is said in Acts 2:11, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Is that what people say of you? That praise and thanksgiving and wisdom are upon your lips? That does not happen be entertaining evil thoughts.
It says in Proverbs 10:19, In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
And in Proverbs 14:1 it says,The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her own hands.
So to the women of the church God asks: Are you building up your house or tearing it down? Are you submissive to your husband, reverent in your speech, or are you nagging him and the children like a dripping faucet?
God warns in Proverbs 15:25, The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, But He will establish the boundary of the widow.
So where there is modesty of speech, a woman’s house becomes a pleasant home. But where there is a contentious spirit, nitpicking, fault finding, “nothing’s ever good enough,” there is enough stress to send you to an early grave.
To be a false accuser is neither good nor safe for anyone’s health including your own.
This leads us to a third exhortation which is about regulating the body’s appetites…
#3 – Not given to much wine (μὴ οἴνῳ πολλῷ δεδουλωμένας)
An older woman must not be given to much wine.
Here the warning is against self-indulgent living. For a woman whose domain is the home, wherein food and wine is kept, there she will have the temptation to eat and drink to excess.
While wine is a good creation of God given to make our heart glad (Psalm 104:15), we must never become enslaved to wine, or have our powers of judgment impaired by it.
There is a reason our culture has coined the term “winemom,” to describe the epidemic of women who are using alcohol, pills, and other substances to escape from and cope with the challenges of modern life.
And so Paul exhorts Christian women to not be winemoms, to not be numbing themselves to the trials of motherhood or grandmotherhood, or widowhood, the trials of aging, of a bad marriage, or of the loneliness so many women feel. Wine is not the answer.
Instead, the best remedy to isolation is twofold: 1) living in the fear of God, and 2) being active in service to others. God sees when nobody else does. God knows when you deny yourself and when you indulge your appetites. And God rewards those who give themselves to much sacrificial service rather than being servants to their own belly.
Take Anna the prophetess as an example of such holy living. It says of her in Luke 2:36-38, She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow for eighty-four years. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to the Lord and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And so the widow Anna, who spent all her life praying and fasting and worshipping God, was rewarded for her faithfulness by getting to see the infant Jesus. To see with her own eyes the incarnation of the Son, who was the answer to all her prayers of faith.
What Anna experienced in her old age, is still only a foretaste of the glory to come. For Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
God is the reward of those devoted to Him. And thus we are told in Ephesians 5:18-19, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
That is far better than being enslaved to wine.
Fourth and finally…
#4 – Teachers of good things (καλοδιδασκάλους)
Paul charges the older women to be teachers of good things. Next week will study what some of those good things are, but for now just observe that God assigns a real teaching function to the older wiser women in the church. They are to be as mentors to the younger women, as verse 4 goes on to say.
So while God forbids a woman from teaching or preaching publicly in the church, it says in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 she is to remain silent in this regard, still they are commanded to teach the younger women. And that means doing so in private (outside the assembly of the saints) and in other single-sex groups, Ladies Fellowship, Women’s book studies, in the home, etc.
This is because some things are better said to women from women, especially when it comes to these issues of clothing, hair, modesty, childbearing, and running a home.
So to the younger women in the church, are you seeking out the “mothers in Israel,” to ask them for advice, to befriend them, to learn from them, to ask them questions about how to navigate the challenges you are facing?
Are you making use of the wealth of experience that exists in this body? Because I tell you, there is a lot of wisdom here if you will search it out.
Proverbs 4:7 says, Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.
And to those who are the older women in the church, do not think you are not needed here. Last I checked, there were 97 children in our church under the age of 18, about half of those are girls, and then add another 25 or so adult women who are under the age of 40, and that adds up to roughly 75 people in our church who are in the category of “younger women.”
So this need for mentorship, friendship, encouragement and prayer is not going away anytime soon. And so take it upon yourself to pursue wisdom even in your latter years, and then love one another across the generations, as mothers and daughters, as grandmothers and granddaughters serving the same Lord.
Consider the sweet friendships between Naomi and Ruth, Elizabeth and Mary, find those who possess the virtues you lack and need, and learn from them. Those who diligently search for wisdom will find it. As Proverbs 13:20 says, “She who walks with the wise will become wise.”
Conclusion
What does spiritual beauty consist of? It is having a unified and well-proportioned soul. It is having your mind enlightened by the splendor of God. Your will submitted to and united to God’s will. Your appetites subordinated and governed by the Holy Spirit, so that as it says in Romans 8:29 you are, conformed to the image of his Son.
What makes a person truly beautiful is total conformity to Jesus. And so to men and women of every age, I charge you to behold the beauty of Jesus. Look at his perfect life, his obedience to his Father, his wisdom as 12-year-old dwelling in his Father’s house. Look at his life of obscurity during his teens and twenties. And then behold his baptism at 30, his resisting every temptation, his constant compassion for the lost, his combat with the Pharisees, his sacrificial love for his disciples and the whole world, loving them unto death.
No man has ever lived a more beautiful life than Christ. And it was a life of humiliation, abandonment, betrayal, false accusations, and ultimately being crucified by the very people he came to save. This is what spiritual beauty looks like. This is what a unified and well-proportioned soul endure for glory of God.
May God grant us the beauty of being conformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Aged Men (Titus 2:1-2)

The Aged MenSunday, September 14th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 2:1-2
Prayer
Father, we thank for your Son and our Savior the Lord Jesus, true God and true man, who in his humanity adorned his teaching with perfect living, and has taught us by word and deed how to please You. And so help us O Father by the same Holy Spirit in which Your Son walked. For we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This morning, we begin a new section in Paul’s letter to Titus. And while chapter 1 was primarily about church government, and what a pastor must be and do to silence heretics, chapter 2 contains what a pastor must teach and exhort within the church.
Now within the church Paul identifies multiple classes of people who need distinct moral instructions. Different people need different things said to them.
In verse 2 he starts with the older men, then the older women, then the younger women, then the younger men, in verses 9-10 he addresses servants, and then in chapter 3 we will see he exhorts the whole church.
Now someone might read all these lists of qualities and actions and instructions and then wonder:Why all this moralizing and telling Christians how to behave, when Christianity is (I thought) all about belief?
To this we must answer that right belief and good behavior are not enemies but rather best friends. God commands that faith and works go together, both are gifts of grace.
Recall from an earlier sermon that we said the theme of this letter is The Marriage Between Sound Doctrine and Sound Living. And so to quote the Lord Jesus, “What God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:9, Matt 19:6). We must not separate faith from works, belief from behavior.
Paul tells us in Titus 1:16 that there were people in Crete who were doing this very thing, He says, they profess that they know God; but in works they deny him.
And so contrary to these mere professors of Christianity, Titus is to instruct the church in how to (as he says in verse 10) adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
Or as Jesus puts it in Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
And so what Titus 2 is all about is adorning, beautifying, glorifying the grace of God with a gracious life.
For as Paul will say in verses 11-14 of this chapter, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
And so if you want to become and stay a pure person to whom all things are pure, first Christ must wash you in baptism and give you the gift of faith. And then having been purified by the Holy Spirit, you are to keep in step with the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit, and it is that new life in the Spirit that Paul is speaking of here.
What Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:22 applies to all of us: do no be a partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
And so this morning we will consider what a pure life in the spirit should look like for an older man, and then in future sermons we’ll do the same for older women, younger women, and so forth.
And so our focus this morning is just on verses 1-2, so let us hear these verses again.
Verses 1-2
1But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Outline of the Sermon
Observe there are six qualities or virtues that God wants older men to possess and pursue. The first three are moral virtues, sobriety, gravity, and temperance. And the latter three are theological virtues, faith, charity, and the patience of hope. So let us consider these six virtues one by one.
#1 – An older man must be Sober (νηφάλιος)
In 1 Timothy 3:2 this same Greek word (νηφάλιος) is translated as vigilant. And the idea here is that an older man must be watchful, clear-headed, sober-minded, especially about his bodily appetites, whether food, drink, sex, or any other pleasure.
This virtue of sober moderation is of course necessary for all ages, but as we get older and freer, new temptations start to afflict is.
For example, if a man is undisciplined in his youth, his own vanity, his sense of shame, and good parents and friends, can help keep his sinful desires in check.There can be good social and peer pressure to help teenagers do what is right, or else. Fear of embarrassment is good when it comes to sin.
However, when we are emancipated, when we become our own masters, or when we mature and stop caring so much about what other people think, we can also lose those good external restraints on our sinful desires. And therefore, it becomes even more necessary as we get older and freer, to have greater internal restraints. That is what sobriety is all about: not going to excess in our pursuit of bodily or worldly pleasures, not abusing the freedom, power, or wealth we have attained.
Both King David and King Solomon are examples of failure on this point.
As a young man David slew Goliath, but as an older man he was slain by his own lust for Bathsheba. David fell through a lack of sobriety.
Likewise, Solomon (the son of Bathsheba), describes in Ecclesiastes how he tried to find satisfaction by acquiring for himself every good he could find under the sun.He had the best food, the best drink, the best vineyards and gardens, the best music, the best servants, the most power and prestige in all whole world. Solomon could indulge any desire he had and that without restraint. But what did he conclude after all that experimentation in gratifying his flesh? It is all vanity. And therefore, he says what is good for every person, young or old is simply: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Eccl 12:13-14).
So to those who are older, sobriety becomes even more necessary when you have less natural shame, less care about other people’s opinions, and less pleasures in some ways than you might have had when you were young and healthy. And therefore, an older man must consciously pursue growth in the governing of his appetites. He must not let his guard down or ever think that God is not watching. He must fear God and keep His commands. This is true sobriety.
#2 – An older man must be Grave (σεμνός)
Other translations have reverent, dignified, solemn, or noble. The idea here is that a man of gravitas is worthy of everyone’s respect because he knows what God values, he knows what God thinks is important, and he has ordered his life around God’s priorities, not games, hobbies, and childish pursuits.
A good example of such gravity is the righteous man Job. And I really cannot give a better description of gravity than to just read you what God inspired in Job 29. And so let me read you a lengthier portion of this chapter.
It says in Job 29:7-25, When I went out to the gate by the city, When I took my seat in the open square, The young men saw me and hid, And the aged arose and stood; The princes refrained from talking, And put their hand on their mouth; The voice of nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth. “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, And multiply my days as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters, And the dew lies all night on my branch. My glory is fresh within me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.’ “Men listened to me and waited, And kept silence for my counsel. After my words they did not speak again, And my speech settled on them as dew. They waited for me as for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain. If I laughed they did not believe it, And the light of my countenance they did not cast down. I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; So I dwelt as a king in the army, As one who comforts mourners.
Does that in any way describe you? While ancient customs may be very different from ours, there are still many universal qualities of justice, honor, and wisdom that we should seek to emulate here.
It says in Leviticus 19:32, You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.
And so to us who are younger, we must learn to show due reverence to our superiors in age for no other reason than God told us to. We live in a world and culture that disrespects authority, dishonors its elders, and that lack of respect for our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, is an abomination in the eyes of God. We shall not live long upon the land if we continue to dishonor the older generations.
And so the young must grow in learning to show respect, and the old must aspire to be worthy of that respect, not merely by their superiority of age, but by their superiority in virtue. It says in Proverbs 16:31, The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.
So are you becoming a man of gravity? Do people seek you out because you have a reputation for wisdom, honor, and justice? Or do people think lightly of you and for good reason, because there is little substance to your words, life, and actions.
One of the lines I especially love is Job 29:24, which is unfortunately translated as, “If I mocked at them, they did not believe it.” In Hebrew the word mocked there is laughed (שׂחק), and the idea is that Job was a such a serious and grave man that people could hardly believe it when he smiled, made a joke, laughed, or was merry.
It’s kind of like if you only saw a judge when he was robed up with a gavel in his hand, you might forget that he also smiles from time to time. This is how people saw Job.
And so man of gravity is not to be over serious (a boor), he should have a sense of humor, but a grave man is serious about the things of God. And when you are serious about the things of God, of heaven, hell, and eternal judgment, then you can be light about trivial things.
And so while Job is a great positive example, Eli and his sons are a great negative example. God says to Eli in 1 Samuel 2:30, For them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
And so are you reverencing God, or are you esteeming the things of God lightly? Because a time will come when God will treat you how you have treated Him. So are you pursuing gravitas?
#3 – An older man must be Temperate (σώφρων)
This Greek word for temperate appears 2 other times in Titus, and it is a different kind of temperance than the virtue of sobriety/moderation which we just spoke of.
Here the idea is that of moral discretion, or thoughtfulness (good judgment), or intellectual prudence. And it is very close to the gift of wisdom that God bestows on those who fear Him all their days.
It says in Job 12:12, Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding.
And in Proverbs 20:29, The glory of young men is their strength: And the beauty of old men is the gray head.
Moses was such a man who had this prudence in old age. It says in Deuteronomy 34:7, Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
In Scripture the eyes are a metaphor for the mind’s understanding. At 120 years old, Moses still had this virtue of discretion, of wise judgment, of prudence about what should be done. And how did he get that? From decades of gazing with those same eyes upon the majesty of God. He spent a lot of time in prayer upon the mountain.
Recall that Moses had to put a veil over his face because it shone with God’s glory. And it should be the ambition of every person in this room to have their eyes bright with the light of Jesus as they approach their latter years. This is true wisdom, to finish our course well with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Now the prudent person knows that what is most needful in life, even more than sobriety, and gravity, are what Scripture extols as the three theological/supernatural virtues which are: faith, hope, and love. And so Paul rounds off this list of six virtues by commending older men to be sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
And so let us say a brief word about how each of these virtues shields us from distinct vices in old age.
#4 – Of Faith
Faith is a shield against presumption on one side, and incredulity on the other.
Because older men are to be wiser and more experienced than the young, they also are tempted to lean on that wisdom and experience more than upon God. Further, they can become incredulous or suspicious of what the younger generations do and think, and therefore unwilling to ever hear or learn from them.
This is the sin of pride and presumption. It is also the sin that caused Satan to fall from so great a height.
Wisdom is extremely dangerous when it becomes a substitute for faith. While faith is the mind’s assent to the testimony of God, presumption is the assent to the testimony of our own opinions.
There is a world of difference between faith in God and self-presumption. When we are young and ignorant, we have good reason to take many things on faith. But as we grow in knowledge, the devil tempts us in different ways. And so we have to be on guard as we gain experience, to still heed the words of Proverbs 3:5-7, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
Faith is what preserves us from such self-presumption and unjust suspicion of others. Faith should keep us humble.
#5 – Of Charity
Charity, or supernatural love, is a shield against both selfishness and bitterness in old age.
Whereas the selfish soul says, “I have done my time serving others, now it’s time for everyone to serve me,” the charitable soul says, “how can I still be a blessing to others with whatever strength and time remains?”
While the selfish heart is grabby, stingy, and entitled, the loving soul is open handed, generous, and outward focused.
The metaphor Paul uses to describe these latter years is that of a cup of wine being poured out.
He says in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, which is final letter before martyrdom, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
It is love for God’s appearance in Christ, His sacrificial death and pouring out his own life on the cross for us, that keeps the fires of love roaring in our soul.
And where there is charity, there you will also find this last virtue that Paul commends, which is the patience of hope.
#6 – Patience
Jesus says in Luke 21:19, By your patience possess your souls.
And in 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul includes patience alongside the grace of performing miracles! Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
This is because as we grow older, our friends and loved ones die, we are always tired but cannot sleep, funerals begin to outnumber the weddings and baby showers, sorrows outweigh our joys, and therefore as we also prepare to go the way of all flesh, what we most need is the patient endurance of hope.
Paul says in Hebrews 6:10-15, For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Conclusion
For those who wait patiently upon God, who do not become sluggish in spirit though the body wastes away, to them God promises blessing upon blessing, multiplication of every good, and on the last day He will justly reward us with glory, with resurrection, with a new body that cannot perish, and in that body we shall walk into a new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells.
In the meantime, I admonish you older men as fathers, to be shining examples for us who are your inferiors in age. We need to see you run the race and finish well!
So look to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. If you endure with patience and hope, you also shall sit down and reign with Him.
May God strengthen your heart to long for this day, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Purity Cult (Titus 1:15)

Purity CultSunday, September 7th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:15
Prayer
O Lord, Who may abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Only he who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. So grant us now such truth, such justice, such uprightness of faith, so that with pure hands and a clean heart, we may ascend into thy loving presence, and find rest there for our weary souls. Grant us this through Christ Jesus our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end, and Amen.
Introduction
It says in Proverbs 11:22, He that loveth pureness of heart, For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. He who loves purity of heart, and has grace upon his lips, the king shall be his friend.
Do you have King Jesus for a friend? Do you love purity of heart? Do people say about you what God says about the Proverbs 31 woman? She openeth her mouth with wisdom; And in her tongue is the law of kindness (Prov 31:26).
Friendship with God, the King of all creation, is the ultimate end for which Christ suffered, died, and rose again the third day. Jesus Christ came to this earth to reconcile sinners to God. To make us who were enemies into friends of God, who like Moses may speak with Him face to face, even as a man speaks to his friend (Ex 33:11).
It says in Ephesians 2:14-17, For he [Christ] is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And [he] came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
The world in its sin and perversity was not clean in the eyes of God. Both Jew and Gentile alike were not friends of God, we were not friends of one another, we were as pigs in a pen wallowing in the mud, as irrational animals pursuing our own sinful desires. That is who God says we all were and are apart from grace. There is none righteous, no, not one (Rom 3:10).  Some people acknowledge that, while others still live in denial.
Of such sin-deniers it says in Proverbs 30:12, There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, And yet is not washed from their filthiness.
The deception of sin is that we don’t know how sinful we really are. We can get so used to smelling bad that we become nose deaf. We can get so used to our own foul stench and body odor, that we have no idea how offensive our lives are to God and to other people.
And while God could have justly left us in that defiled state, He chose instead to pity us, when no one else would.
God says to His people in Ezekiel 16:4-7, On the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful.
This is what God desires to do for you. To make you not only clean, but beautiful. To regenerate you and to wash you by His Holy Spirit. It says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. And it is that sanctifying grace alone that makes us capable of friendship with God the king.
Now this morning we come to a text in Titus that is all about purity and defilement. And I have titled this sermon Purity Cult, because just like there were many rival religions and cults pursuing purity in the 1st century, so also today. Just like there were Jewish Cretans and Hypocritical Pharisees who prized purity in external matters, but were filthy in their hearts, so also is America today.
And so I have outlined our sermon according to two important questions that arise from our text.
Outline of the Sermon
Question #1 – Why are all things pure to the pure?
Question #2 – How can a Christian maintain purity of heart before the Lord?
Q#1 – Why are all things pure to the pure?
Recall that this statement from Paul in verse 15, Unto the pure all things are pure, is the reason why Titus is to give the Cretans a sharp rebuke.
There were two dominant errors leading the Cretan church astray, and both of these errors made purity a matter of external bodily things, whereas Jesus taught that purity is a matter of internal spiritual things.
Jesus says in Matthew 15:17-20, Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.
And so contrary to this teaching of Christ, there were two major errors being taught in Crete.
1. The first error denied that grace alone was sufficient for salvation, and that Jewish legal ceremonies, circumcision, observing the Levitical food laws and so forth, was still necessary in addition to faith in Christ.
Elsewhere Paul calls such false teachers Judaizers, dogs, evil workers, the mutilation (Phil 3:2). In Titus 1:10 he says they are, insubordinate, idle talkers, deceivers, especially those of the circumcision.
So this first error was a uniquelyJewish error that wanted to impose Jewish customs on Gentile converts.By doing this they were denying the efficacy of Christ’s work on the cross.Paul’s letter to the Galatians and his letter to the Hebrews were both written to refute this error in particular.
He says very forcefully in Hebrews 10, For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He [Christ Jesus] came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God’…He takes away the first [the old covenant] that He may establish the second [the new covenant]. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
So while Paul and the apostles were preaching this once-for-all complete atonement and cleansing through Christ, the Judaizers tried to add works of the law to grace, and in doing so, they ended up nulliying the graciousness of grace.
For as Paul says in Romans 11:6, And if it is by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
And Jesus says of such hypocrisy in Mark 7:7-8, In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
So this first error was a denial of Christ’s power to justify and sanctify the human soul apart from circumcision, apart from any works of the law. And the Apostle Paul says that anyone who teaches that Judaizing doctrine (requiring circumcision for salvation), has fallen from grace (Gal 5:4).
2. The second error that was circulating in the 1st century, was a denial of the inherent goodness of God’s creation. And this error was more a problem of bad philosophy. Against this idea we have the testimonies of Scripture:
It says in Genesis 1:31, And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
Paul says likewise in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
So contrary to this truth, there were and are a whole host of different errors that amount to saying things like, “the physical world is evil, while the spiritual realm is good.” Or, “God only cares about the soul, what you do with your body doesn’t really matter (so sleep with whoever you want).” Or, “there are two equal and opposed forces in the world, the light and the dark. And there are particles of the divine light in certain foods and actions, whereas in other foods are malevolent forces, and therefore avoid these and eat those if you want to be enlightened.” And there are all kinds of variations on these themes.
These are all ultimately heresies about Creation and the Goodness of God. Moreover, because God the Son, took to Himself a true human nature born of the virgin Mary, any heresy about the created physical world, also becomes a heresy about who Christ is and what Christ has done to redeem His good creation, not to mention that Christ still has a physical, glorified, resurrected body. It says in Acts 1:11, this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
One of the earliest heresies about Christ was called Docetism, which taught that Christ only appeared to have a human body.
Another major heresy was called Manichaeism, which St. Augustine spent much of his career refuting. Manichaeismwas a combination of Jewish myths, Christianity, and paganism. And as with all false religions, it taught a works-based form of salvation.
To give you an example of what they taught I’ll read you a quote from the Manichee’s, “It is incumbent upon him who will enter into the religion that he prove himself, and that if he sees that he is able to subdue lust and avarice, to leave off the eating of all kinds of flesh, the drinking of wine, and sexual intercourse, and to withhold himself from what is injurious in water, fire, magic and hypocrisy, he may enter into the religion; but if not let him abstain from entering.”
And so notice you have prescribed here almost exactly what Paul says in 1 Timothy 4 is a doctrine of demons. Paul says there, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
And so against the lie that marriage and sex are unclean or defiling. God says in Hebrews 13:4, Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
And against those who would forbid various foods as being unclean or defiling. It says in Acts 11:9,What God has cleansed you must not call common. And Paul says in Romans 14:14, I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself.
To Summarize the answer to our question: “Why are all things pure to the pure?” we can give three biblical responses:
1. Because everything that God created is good according to its very nature. Nothing God made is evil in itself. Evil in fact does not have any being properly speaking but is only the privation or lack of what is good.
2. Because the old covenant ceremonies were fulfilled by Christ, and before Christ they were only ever a sign and pre-figurement of things to come (as a shadow to its substance). And therefore, when Christ is said to make all foods clean, he makes known to Peter by a threefold vision that by foods is meant the Gentile nations. And if the Gentiles have now received the Holy Spirit, then the unclean animals that used to signify unclean peoples is no longer true or applicable. The same goes for circumcision, new moons, animal sacrifices and the like. Christ has come and fulfilled them all.
3. Because faith in Christ purifies our mind, and in baptism (the sacrament of faith) God cleanses our conscience (he forgives all our past sins). It says of this cleansing in Hebrews 11:22, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).
So because faith makes us pure, and because a pure heart does everything for the glory of God, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we believe what Paul says here in verse 14, to the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
And of the unbeliever it says likewise in Romans 14:23, But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
So where there is a true and living faith everything is pure. But where there is unbelief, nothing is pure.
This principle explains so much of American culture and politics. Remember covid. Our government imposed all kinds of rules and regulations to keep us “pure” from the virus. We spent billions of dollars trying to contain the virus and vaccinate against the virus. We had our own American version of the Levitical ceremonial laws, social distancing, masking and the like. That is how much Americans are concerned about physical (and social) purity.
Now imagine if we cared half as much about moral purity, about keeping the actual commandments of God. We are a nation of apostate and backslidden Christians who like the Pharisees boast about tithing our mint, dill, and cumin, but we neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.
When a formerly Christian land, like America, abandons the faith, it loses its spiritual purity. But because it still has the remnants of a Christian conscience, it cannot help but seek to assuage that now dirty and defiled conscience through all kinds of new purity cults with their fake days of atonement, scapegoating, and externalized acts of cleansing. That is what modern identity politics is, a counterfeit religion that promises purity or justice of some kind, but cannot ever deliver.
We tell ourselves that if we can just clean up the environment, no plastics, no fossil fuels, all electric everything, that maybe we can become clean again. But what is this but cleaning the outside of the cup, when the inside is still filthy. All such purity cults, no matter the sacrifice, can succeed.
And this brings us to our second and final question which is…
Q#2 – How can a Christian maintain purity of heart before the Lord?
The answer to this question is simply by renewing and maintaining your faith in Christ. Or as Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:15, continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Recall that faith is an instrument that God graciously gives to us, and like most instruments/tools, our faith needs routine maintenance to keep in good working condition.
It says in Ecclesiastes 10:10, If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.
So if faith is like an axe that cuts down unbelief, how do you keep your faith sharp?
There are two means of grace I want to highlight for us that purify and renew our faith.
1. The first is the Word of God, through which faith comes to us in the first place (Rom 10:17).
It says in Proverbs 30:5, Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
It says in Psalm 12:6, The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
It says again in Psalm 19:8-10, The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Do you know this sweetness, this purity, the surpassing value of God’s holy word? Have you as Hebrews 6:5 says, tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come?
Whereas men are liars, God is not. Whereas falsehood defiles, the truth cleanses and liberates. So are you keeping yourself pure and unstained from this world by washing yourself daily in the word of God?
It says in Romans 12:2, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Unlike every other book authored by man, however wise or godly he may be or have been, nothing surpasses the purity and power of Holy Scripture.
This Word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. In it is contained all that you need for life and godliness. Everything necessary for salvation is found in this book. By it our faith is nourished. By it our sins our exposed. By it we receive comfort and hope and assurance. By it we hear the very loving voice of God.
And so while the world in its unbelief refuses to hear, refuses to abandon their broken cisterns, we are those sheep who love the Shepherd’s voice, we follow the Good Shepherd, and it is He who says to us, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt 4:4).
So are you as James 1:27 says, keeping yourself unstained from the world?
Because God Himself has told us the path to purity. As it says in Psalm 119:9,How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
2. The second means of grace follows from the first, and that is regular prayers of repentance.
Paul exhorts us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to, Pray without ceasing.
And in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to ask our Father in heaven, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
The Psalms likewise give us multiple prayers of repentance (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143)
And so recall what makes something pure. Paul says, it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. That principle applies not only to external things like food and drink, but also to internal things like our very soul. We are sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Prayer is where our conscience is cleansed through confession of our sins. Or as we quoted from the WCF 15.5 last week, “Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavour to repent of his particular sins particularly.” So how you are doing with that?
The church father St. Augustine says, “Once for all we have washing in Baptism, every day we have washing in prayer.”
Meaning, the effects of our baptism extend throughout our whole lifetime. As often as we forsake our sins and return to Christ who is our laver of cleansing, we renew the spiritual reality that baptism signifies. God always says to a truly repentant heart, “I forgive you.”
It says in Psalm 34:18, The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
And so when you are sorrowful over your sins with a godly sorrow, the outcome is salvation.Jesus says of the woman in Luke 7 who washed his feet with tears, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.
Conclusion
And so I close where I began with this question: Do you have King Jesus for a friend? Do you love purity of heart? Because purity is what Jesus died to give you, and by the purity of His life, by the grace of His lips, perfect purity is held out for all who believe. May God grant you this purity forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Liars, Evil Beasts, Slow Bellies (Titus 1:5-16)

Liars, Evil Beasts, Slow BelliesSunday, August31st, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5–16
Prayer
Father, we thank You for your living word, that is a hammer, a fire, a two-edged sword against evil, and also a healing balm to comfort our wounded soul. Give us each now what we most need from Your word, whether conviction or consolation or both, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
For four consecutive weeks we have studied the 16 qualifications to be a pastor/teacher in the church. And this morning we turn now to the purpose for all of those qualifications, which is twofold:
One reason we need qualified pastors is because Paul says there are many false teachers who need to be silenced.
And second, because there are entire households listening to false teaching, being seduced and led astray by them (sometimes without knowing it), and they need to be rescued by a sharp rebuke.
The goal of all of this refutation of errors and instruction in what is true, is so that as Paul says in verse 13, “they may be sound in the faith.” This is the goal and end of a qualified biblical eldership and of good presbyterian government: soundness in the faith once received.
God wants the body of Christ to be a healthy body. And therefore, as the Head of the church, and the Supreme Bishop of our souls, Christ commands true teachers to silence and refute false teachers, and he commands faithful members to only listen to faithful and trustworthy men.
This is how the body of Christ builds itself up in love. For as Paul says in Ephesians 4:15-16, but, speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
So just as a small infection in one part of the body can easily spread to the rest, so must the body of Christ seek soundness, wholeness, and vitality in all of its members.
This means that every single person in the church, (including you!) has a part to play. Sin in one member can spread to another. And likewise, health in one member can spread to the rest. It says in Proverbs 13:20, He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. So who are you walking with? What body are you a part of?
The nature of body-life is to walk together in love, to uphold one another when we trip or stumble, to encourage one another when we grow weary, and like good soldiers in the Lord’s army, we leave no soul behind.
The pastor John Piper likes to say, “sanctification is a community project.” Meaning, our individual growth and health, or lack thereof, impacts the rest of the body. This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
This letter from Paul to Titus is a good test. It is a routine spiritual checkup as to whether you are sound in the faith, or wavering. Whether you are living up to that high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14), or whether you are slacking and forgetting your first love (Rev 2:4).
Paul says in Hebrews 3:13, But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. How often does God think you need encouragement, exhortation, help from one another? He says here daily. Every day we desperately need Jesus. His mercies are new every morning, because every night we forget that we need them. We need God, and we need one another, far more than we think we do.
And so Paul has written Titus to give us many exhortations, exhortations we can than share with one another, and practice together. This is the body life God intends every Christian to have.
So this morning our focus will be on verses 10-14, which includes exhortations about false teachers and how to deal with them.
Outline of the Text
In verses 10-11 we have False Teachers Defined
In verses 12-13a we have National Sins Exposed
In verses 13b-14 we have The Christian’s Response to False Teaching
Verses 10-11 – False Teachers Defined
10For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
Observe first that false teachers are many. While the truth is one and united like hitting the very center of a target, still there are an infinite number of ways you can miss the bullseye.
Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 7:13-14, Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
So because of our original sin, our actual sins, and our ongoing ignorance of the truth, falsehood and error comes easily to us. We see in the Old Testament that true prophets like Moses and Elijah, are few and far between, whereas false prophets are like Starbucks and McDonalds, you can find em in every city (serving the same trash).
Paul says these false teachers are not only many in quantity, they are also evil in quality. And then he goes on to list three common vices (or tells) of false teachers.
1. They are unruly, meaning they are insubordinate. They are accountable to no one and they despise or reject godly authority.
2. They are vain talkers. Their words lack substance. It says in Job 38:2 of such men, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? And Paul says of the same in 1 Timothy 1:6-7, They have swerved from the faith and have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
False teachers don’t know what they are talking about. Just like the most confident people are fools without experience, so also it is with these vain talkers and gainsayers.
Martin Luther once said of such people, “they want to be theologians when they can’t even sing.” In other words, the goal of theology is doxology. Choir class is the pre-requisite to theology class. And this is because the goal of sound doctrine is that you are moved to sing and praise God from whom all blessings flow. And so if a man does not already have the Word of Christ dwelling in him richly with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in his heart to the Lord, how can that man teach others? How can anyone do justice to the truth, unless they first love and sing to the one who is Truth, the Lord Jesus?
The person who learns to sing and praise God in private, in the prayer closet (without anyone else hearing or seeing), is being equipped to proclaim the truth when necessary to others. But this the vain talker, the gainsayer, knows not.
3. The third vice Paul warns about is that these men are deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. That is to say, they corrupt and abuse the Old Testament Scriptures, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Paul says of them in verse 14, they teach Jewish fables/myths, and commandments of men, that turn [people] from the truth.
These are primarily Jewish false teachers (Judaizers) like the scribes and Pharisees. And they insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation. And so while they could cite Moses and the prophets and teach the Holy Scriptures, they perverted the true meaning of them because they lacked the Holy Spirit.
As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:15, But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Paul warns of such people in Philippians 3:2-3 saying, Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
The mark of the true gospel of grace is that it humiliates your flesh. Whereas false gospels and false teachers boast in the flesh, they appeal to the flesh, and they interpret the Bible in all kinds of carnal ways.
Elsewhere Paul gives us more examples of the content of their teaching.
In 1 Timothy 4:1-5 he says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
So in this instance, the false teaching was, “don’t get married, and don’t eat certain foods.” Does that sound like any cults you know, or spirits of our age?
Paul warns likewise in Colossians 2:16-23 saying, So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to [these manmade] regulations—“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in will worship, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
So the heresies of the apostolic church revolved primarily around the divinity of Christ, the status of the Old Testament (especially circumcision), and the goodness (or badness) of the material world. And then you have various sects or religions that developed based on how those questions were answered (Gnostics, Manichees, Marcionites, Muslims, Judaism, etc.).
So there is only one Lord, one Christ, one God and Father of all, one true gospel, but there are many counterfeits, many false teachers, many false gods, and therefore many errors a Christian must shun and avoid while holding fast to the truth. This is how you become sound in the faith.
Now occasionally, like a broken clock, a false teacher says something true. And because all truth is God’s truth, in verse 12, Paul uses a true saying from a false teacher to expose and convict the Cretan nation’s sins.
Verses 12-13a – National Sins Exposed
12One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13This witness is true…
Often, it is the best form of persuasion to convict someone using their own authorities against them. In this instance, we have the saying of either the pagan poet Epimenides, or just some anonymous Cretan-Jewish preacher, but whatever the case, Paul says their witness is true.
The Cretans had a public reputation amongst the other nations, as being liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Yes, this is a stereotype. Yes, this is a generality. And as a stereotype, and as a generality, Paul says (God says!) this is a true description of the Cretan people.
And so while it is true that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), some sins are more pronounced or manifest in this nation over that. It’s kind of like, all of us are sinners, but we sin differently, and we have different vices according to our age, education, class, temperament, upbringing, or even the weather that day.
So while we need to be careful to not use stereotypes in any unkind or malicious way, Paul is using it to love the Cretans and bring them to repentance. He is holding up a mirror and showing them who they really are.
It is the job of the bishop to oversee so that he can know and rebuke the specific sins of the people he is preaching to. And just like not every person struggles with the same thing, or has the same temptations to sin, so it is with groups, towns, cities, states, and entire nations.
And so the question we need to ask is what are our sins? What are the uniquely American idols that need to be toppled? What are the uniquely Washington State/Lewis and Thurston County sins we need to repent of? And most importantly, what are my own personal individual sins that I need to repent of? Do you know yourself? Or do you need a comedian to roast you and tell you what everyone else sees but you don’t?
Jesus says, before you take the speck out of your brother’s eye, you need to remove the plank from your own. This is true, and it is so hard to do, because it means you have to be humble. It means you have to look in the mirror, stand on the scale, tell the doctor what you ate that week.
One of my favorite lines in the entire Westminster Confession of Faith, is in Chapter 15 on Repentance Unto Life. It says in paragraph 5, “Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavour to repent of his particular sins particularly.”
And so if you want a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith, which Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:5 is the goal, end, and purpose of the commandment, then you need to know what your particular sins are and then repent of them particularly. You need to name your sins the way God names them: envy, jealousy, greed, hatred, adultery, murder, lust, evil passions, and so forth.
And the reason we need not fear naming our sins this way, is because as it says in the preceding paragraph of the WCF 15.4, “As there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation; so there is no sin so great, that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.”
So Paul is calling the Cretans liars, irrational animals, and lazy gluttons, so that they will truly repent and by God’s grace become known as truth-tellers, honest men, doing honest work for the glory of God.
Paul knows firsthand the power of the gospel to transform entire nations. Jesus did not say go disciple a few people here and there, he said, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.
The gospel we preach is a universal gospel, a gospel for all people, of every nation, tribe, tongue, and sinful reputation. No culture is beyond the redemption of Christ, but that culture has to first die and be buried and repent of its unique sins if it wants to rise again with Christ and be redeemed.
John Owen, the great English Puritan once said, “The prevalence of the gospel in any nation may be measured by the success it has against known national sins. If these are not in some good measure subdued by it, if the minds of people are not alienated from those sins and made watchful against them, if their guilt appear not naked, without the varnish or veil put upon it by commonness or custom, whatever profession is made of the gospel, it is vain and useless.”
To put it more simply, if America would embrace the gospel, then we should be ashamed of the lawlessness and evil we not only tolerate but celebrate. Abortion needs to be outlawed, pornography needs to be criminalized and banned, no-fault divorce needs to be abolished, a bunch of criminals need to be executed, and we need to blush red with shame for a long list of other national sins.
The American Church (of which we are part) has grown accustomed to the idols and false gods of our age. We worship mammon. We worship technology. We worship ourselves. And none of those things can save us.
And so while Cretans may be liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies (and we can laugh at them) what are we? This is a question we need to ask ourselves with an open Bible in front of us, so that we can repent of our particular sins particularly.
Finally, how then should a Christian respond to all this false teaching and evil living around them? In verses 13-14 Paul has an exhortation for Titus, and exhortation to the Cretan Christians. He says to Titus…
Verses 13-14 – The Christian’s Response to False Teaching
Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
So the job of Titus and all the Cretan Bishops/Pastors, is to rebuke the church sharply. And the content of that rebuke is to say: stop listening to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn you from the truth.
This is our job as elders. To love you enough to hurt your feelings sometimes. To grab you by the ears, look you in the eyes, and say STOP LISTENING TO THAT TRASH! Get off Facebook, get off YouTube, stop scrolling those websites, delete your accounts, turn off the TV and go binge some Bible instead.
One of the main reason false teachers are many, is because there are many itching ears, many bad consciences, many gullible men and women, who want to be distracted, entertained, outraged, or just titillated. And those kinds of motives do not produce soundness in faith.
Paul says in Ephesians 4:20, That was not how you learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Remember we said last week that the way your inward man gets renewed day by day, is by embracing more truth and forsaking more errors. By understanding more of what you already believe about Jesus, and by resolving doubts, questions, or difficulties that trouble you.
Conclusion
It says in 1 John 4:3-6, You are of God, little children, and have overcome them [referring to false teachers], because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
The Word of God is the only infallible, unchangeable, God-breathed source of truth. And those who have that same breath of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, which is the Spirit of faith, hope, and love towards God, is called a child of God who has overcome the world. This is the hope we have for the gospel’s triumph against the sins of our age, and the particular sins of our own selves: That God loves us, that Christ died for us, and His resurrection power is greater than any falsehood or false teachers that assault His church.
May He ever keep you in His love. In the name the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 4 (Titus 1:5-14)

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 4Sunday, August 24th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5-14
Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Son, who is true man and true God, the way, the truth, and the life eternal. Grant us now to value Truth more than all the fleeting and deceitful riches of this world, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
For the last three weeks we have been answering the question, “What are the qualifications to be a bishop?”
Recall that the word bishop means to oversee, or to supervise, and it is the work of elders/presbyters to oversee the lives and teaching of God’s people.
Thus far we have studied 15 moral qualities thata bishop must possess, and this morning we come to the 16th and final quality, which is unique in that while being a character trait, it is also a matter of skill, competency, and action.
We find this 16th qualification in verse 9 of our text which says, Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Now I need to flag for you that this 16th qualification is what distinguishes within the eldership, what we call Teaching Elders/Pastors from Ruling Elders/Governors.
In classic Presbyterianism, Teaching Elders/Ministers of the Word must meet a much higher standard for understanding and teaching doctrine, and they must be examined and ordained by the regional Presbytery. Ruling Elders/Governors on the other hand are elected and installed by the local congregation, and because they are not called to regular preaching duties, it is not expected that they need to know Greek, Hebrew, Systematics, Church History and the like. It is certainly a bonus if they have these things, but they are not essential to their official duties of ruling.
I’ll spare you the details of this important distinction, but I want to flag it here because this is the one qualification that does not strictly speaking apply to everyone in the church. The moral aspect of holding fast to the faithful word applies universally, but the skill and action to exhort and convince gainsayers (to argue with and refute heretics) applies only to a Pastor/Teaching Elder.
And so with that caveat in mind, let us consider this 16th qualification according to three different questions:
Outline
What is this moral quality of holding fast to the faithful word?
What actions/duties result from this moral quality?
Why is this quality essential for a Pastor to possess?
Q#1 – What is this moral quality of holding fast to the faithful word?
This Greek verb that we translate as holding fast is ἀντέχω, and it can signify loyalty, devotion, or clinging to someone in love.
Jesus uses this same verb in Matthew 6:24 when he says, No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold (ἀντέχω) to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
It says likewise in the Greek version of Proverbs 3:18, speaking of wisdom, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold (ἀντέχω) upon her: And happy is every one that retaineth her.
So to hold fast to the faithful word, is to cling to Christ’s teaching from love. It is to join your soul in marriage to God’s infinite wisdom and goodness, and to hate/shun/despise anyone or anything that tries to separate you from it. This is what it means to hold fast to the faithful word.
This firmness of mind/resolve stands in contrast to the person who wavers in their faith. James 1:5-8 speaks of this person saying, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. And then later in James 4:7-10 he calls that wavering person to repentance saying, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
So this quality of holding fast is to have firmness of faith. It is to be constant and reliable in a world that is in flux. Moreover, the object of your faith is not your own opinion or any opinion of man, but rather God’s unchangeable goodness, love, and generosity, and because God is always good and always liberal, you constantly ask him for heavenly wisdom. And he is happy to give it to the one has a single-minded faith.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:15, that the church of the living God [is] the pillar and ground of the truth.
In Galatians 2:9 he identifies James, Peter, and John as pillars in the church.
And Jesus says to the pastor of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:11-12, Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.
So in the spiritual architecture of the church, bishops are to be as pillars firmly proclaiming and upholding the everlasting gospel of grace. And so if a man is unstable/wobbly, if he is easily blown about by every new opinion and wind of doctrine, he cannot be a bishop. He cannot even be a good Christian if he is constantly changing and altering his beliefs.
This means that a candidate for eldership should have a long track record of faithfulness, not a history of rapid and erratic shifts. It is a temptation for young people especially to get really excited about something (even good things) but then lose interest when the next trend hits. For like the Athenians in Acts 17 they, spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Our 10 second attention span, and the ubiquity of social media is not helping us acquire the virtue of constancy. Instead, we are being habituated to have wandering and easily distracted minds. It is a great hindrance to bearing the fruit of the holy spirit, to constantly uproot yourself in search of better soil.
There is certainly a time and place to replant, our lay a new foundation, to repent, if your previous station in life was diseased, but at some point you need to put roots down into God, alongside His people, and stay there. This is a virtue that we do not prize or pursue enough, and our economy and cultural winds continue to war against this.
So what God wants for you, is that you forsake whatever is getting in the way of you holding fast to His faithful word.
You need to ask yourself, What has my attention? Because wherever your attention is fixed, that is what you are actually holding fast to. So are you holding fast to God? Or like a wandering bird are you flitting from one pretty thing to the next?
It says in Jeremiah 6:16, Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
And so the exhortation to anyone who is tempted to forsake the old paths (the faith once received and handed down from the apostles), is to slow down, get advice from the people who you know to be stable pillars, who have lived out that “long obedience in the same direction.” For it is the mark of a fool to be constantly changing one’s mind, and it is a deadly vice when it comes to matters of the Christian faith.
A bishop on the other hand must be firm. Now how this firmness come about?
Notice that Paul says in verse 9, that a bishop must hold fast to the faithful word, as he hath been taught. That is to say, firmness comes from having good and firm teachers.
This means a bishop is not a self-taught or self-ordained man. He knows what it is to be a student, a learner, a man under authority. The great danger of being a self-taught person, is that you don’t know what you don’t know. You have blind spots that you don’t even know about, and that is disastrous when it comes to caring for other people’s souls.
It says in Ecclesiastes 12:11, The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
Meaning, a bishop needs to have felt the loving blows of a teacher’s hammer. His head should have received the oil of rebuke and not refused it, and because of those corrections that a good teacher gives, he has stories, he has scars, but scars that have well healed. He remembers the wise nails, the hard lessons, that were driven into him, and they keep him from wandering into folly later in life.
The Bible is a difficult and dangerous book to interpret. It says 2 Peter 3:16, of Paul’s letters that there are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Many people have shipwrecked their own lives and the lives of others by handling this book imprudently. And therefore, a bishop needs to have undergone rigorous training. That training then needs to be tested and proven, and even then he must as Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If Timothy was taught the Scriptures from infancy by his mother and grandmother, and then was personally mentored and trained by the Apostle Paul, and yet still he needed ongoing study in the Word to rightly teach it, how much more do we today?
This is the biblical reason, necessity, and justification for good Bible colleges, rigorous seminaries, and academic institutions that are connected to and in service of the church. Because as the seminaries go, so goes the church. When the seminaries go left, the pulpits go left, and we have watched this play out in America for the last 300 years.
Jesus says in Luke 6:40, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
So what kind of teachers and training should a pastor have?
Well consider by comparison the time and the training we expect of our medical students, our nurses, doctors, and surgeons. And then ask yourself, what is more important, the soul or the body?
If a doctor must dedicate at least 10 years of his life to reading, classes, residency, exams and practice, is it too much if we ask just a few years of our men to become learned in the Scriptures?
If Jesus trained the 12 apostles by a constant and intensive 3-year apprenticeship, how many hours of training should we expect a pastor to have? At least that, unless we think ourselves better teachers than Christ.
It is no small thing to rightly divide the word, and yet the American church with its itching ears has hired for itself many flatterers, many peddlers of God’s Word who will affirm them in their sins, and they love to have it so.
This was the case on the Island of Crete, and Paul’s answer to that doctrinal disease was not the lowering of standards for elders, but the calling of Christian men to a high moral standard. We need that same kind of return to God’s Word if we want reformation and revival in our day!
Q#2 – What actions/duties result from this moral quality of holding fast?
There are two actions Paul commends in verse 9, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
The teaching ministry of the church revolves around two harmonious actions:
1. Exhortation in what is true and right.
2. Refutation of what is false and evil.
By exhortation is meant instruction, encouragement, and urging people to live holy for Jesus.
By convincing the gainsayers is meant exposing errors, arguing against false doctrine, rebuking evil living, and as Paul says in verse 13, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.
He adds later in Titus 3:9-11 some guidelines for doing this when he says, But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
And so a bishop is to put on the whole armor of God, he is to fight the good fight of faith, and as it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
It is only by sound doctrine that the body of Christ can become sound in the faith. And the primary means of God making the church healthy is by this twofold action of the preacher’s voice: Exhortation and Refutation. Or as Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:2, Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine.
So that’s the pastor’s primary job and vocation. It is to fight against wolves and to feed the sheep. Exhort in what is true. Refute what is false.
What should this diet of Exhortation and Refutation produce in those who hear?
It should produce what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
How is your inward man renewed day by day even as your body is dying? Your inward man is your spirit, your mind, which can either look at and focus temporal/earthly things (which then drag it down), or it can be raised up to gaze upon eternal/spiritual things (which give us joy and hope).
What good preaching does is present to your mind the true nature of God, the true salvation found in Jesus, heaven, hell, judgment, glory. And then as you abandon your false opinions, your errors, your worldly affections, and as Paul says in Colossians 3:2, Set your affection on things above, then your inward man is renewed day by day. You become ever young as you participate in God’s eternal life.
Proverbs 4:18 describes this transformation saying, The path of the just is as the shining light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
And in Proverbs 24:15 it says, The way of life is above to the wise, That he may depart from hell beneath.
The more falsehoods and lies you forsake, and the more truth you love and embrace, the more you will experience the joy indestructible that Jesus wants to give you.
So the preacher has his job, and you have yours. So are you attending closely to the Word that is preached?
Q#3 – Why is this quality essential for a bishop to possess?
Already we have seen that the health of the church is at stake. And in verses 10-11 Paul elaborates on why this need for good pastors is so urgent.
 10For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
Next week we will have a whole sermon dedicated to false teachers, but for now just observe that what hangs in the balance are entire households, families, church members, who have been seduced away from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3).
Paul warns of such deceivers in 2 Timothy 3:6-7 saying, For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And he says to the Galatians, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth…Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
It is the ancient scheme of the devil, and the persistent ploy of false teachers today, to divert your attention and devotion away from God, by stirring up and appealing to your earthly desires.
In fact, this is one of the best ways to discern between a true teacher and a false teacher, by considering what their teaching makes you desire. This is how advertising works.
A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit loves spiritual things, truth, heaven, God, Christ, the glorified saints. Things you can only see and love by faith.
Whereas, the person filled with the spirit of the age, loves only what it can see, touch, and feel. They promise freedom but they enslave. They promise forgiveness, but offer no relief or assurance of pardon. They entice and seduce only to oppress and corrupt. This is the false salvation that false gods deliver.
And this is why a bishop must have certainty in sound doctrine, fullness of understanding of what God has revealed, so that he can rescue these households from the lies and seduction of the world.
Conclusion
In Psalm 16 we have a wonderful illustration of how David the Pastor/Shepherd, exhorts in the truth, while clearing away error.
He says in Psalm 16:4, Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips. By this David identifies and warns us of false gods and false worship. As Paul says in Romans 16:17, he marks them and avoids them. But he does not stop there in rejecting such errors, he goes on in verses 5-6 to publish and exhort us in the truth saying, O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.
David tells us the truth of where human happiness is actually found. He says it is in God (earlier in vs. 2 he says, I have no good apart from You.) But because David is a good teacher, and he knows that we struggle to love things that we cannot see, he uses this image and metaphor of a great inheritance, a large estate, a grand house, with property lines that have fallen in pleasant places. We would say today, he shows us the best house and in the best neighborhood with the best view.
And then having placed that earthly desire before our mind, he then draws our attention upward and says, God is that place. Heaven is where every saint has a waterfront view of God’s glory, and his neighbors are the excellent ones, holy saints in whom God delights.
This is the truth, and the promise, and the hope Jesus died on the cross to purchase for us. And so make God (in whom the life of your soul consists) your singular desire and pursuit. Or as Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else shall be added unto you. May God grant you this desire, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 3 (Titus 1:5-9)

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 3Sunday, August17th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5-9
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the power of Your word, which is as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Please cleanse us, please renew our purity and chastity as saints, so that we may become as holy temples wherein you walk and dwell forever. Grant us Your Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
For the last two weeks we have been studying this long list of qualifications to be a bishop. Recall that the title of elder/presbyter refers to a man’s spiritual age and maturity, and the title of bishop/overseer refers to his work of keeping watch over God’s flock.
The Apostle Paul had left his co-worker Titus on the beautiful island of Crete to, “set in order the things that are wanting.” And we discover that what was wanting/lacking in Crete was a distinctly presbyterian form of church government.
What is presbyterian church government? It the government of the church by a plurality of qualified presbyters of equal rank. This is the universal apostolic pattern in the New Testament, and it was Titus’s job to examine and appoint such men for this work in the many cities of Crete.
Now thus far we have looked at 9 of these 16 qualifications that Paul sets down for us. And this morning we are going to almost complete that list by looking at the six remaining moral qualifications. And then Lord Willing next week we’ll look at the 16th and final qualification which is a matter of skill and competency to teach sound doctrine and refute error.
Now before we study these 6 moral qualities, I want to remind you of two important truths:
1. The standard for elders in the church is also a universal moral standard for all Christians. And so while this list of 16 things is most applicable, relevant, and binding for those called to the ministry, it is still a high moral example that all of us should be aspiring towards. To put it another way, no Christian can say to himself, “well I am not a pastor, so I don’t have to live as holy as the pastor does.”
No, the charge that Paul gives to all the saints in the church is, Follow me as I follow Christ (1 Cor 11:1), And Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow/imitate, considering the outcome of their conduct (Heb 13:7).
So while most of us are not called to become elders or deacons, and James 3:1 says not many should become teachers my brethren, for we shall be judged with a stricter judgment, still these moral qualities that Paul sets down here should be what we all aspire to. So your work in hearing these sermons on “What A Bishop Must Be,” should be to examine your own life with an eye to how you may grow in godliness.
2. Remember that God never calls us to be or become something, without also giving us the grace to obey Him. So while this high moral standard applies to everyone according to their unique age, sex, and station in life, this list is not the basis for our right standing with God, but it is rather the fruit, the effect, and the necessary consequence, of God making us righteous in His Son.
This is because when God justifies you (He declares you righteous for Christ’s sake), He not only forgives and forgets all of your past sins, not counting them against you, but He also gives more grace.
The God who justifies you graciously, is the same God who sanctifies you graciously. And so all of our hard work and labor to become more holy, to repent of our vices and embrace virtue is still all a work of God’s grace. Furthermore, it is only by grace that you can become this.
Paul describes this divine-human cooperation in Philippians 2:12-13 saying, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
So we must resist the temptation to make our progress in grace the ultimate cause and basis for which God loves us, instead of it being the joyful effect and fruit of God’s unchangeable love working within us.
God says in Jeremiah 31:3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And in Malachi 3:6, I am the LORD, I change not.
So nothing you do can change the character and essence of God. He is Himself love essentially. God is love invincible. Your sins cannot harm him or change the love that He has for you. What your sins do is harm you, and make you feel distant from God’s love when in reality His love has not gone anywhere. And yet even that distance from Him that He sometimes allows you to feel, is how God woos you back to Himself.
Like the father of the prodigal son, God knows that we sometimes need to taste the pig slop before we return home in repentance. But did the father’s love ever change for his son? No. His heart was always ready to welcome him back.
It says in Romans 5:8, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And in Romans 8:39, that for those who are predestined, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This means that however great your sins may be, however disordered or dysfunctional your present life is, God has a plan that is only good for you, and Christ is the fountain of grace that never dries up.
So as you examine your own faults and shortcomings, do not forget the gospel of free grace, the good news of God’s unchangeable love, for this is the source and power from which we renew our strength to live and die for Jesus.
So with that in mind, let us consider now these 6 remaining moral qualities that a bishop must be. In verse 7 Paul gave us 5 things a bishop must not be, not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; and then he sets this in contrast to verse 8 where he says,But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate.
#1 – A bishop must be a lover of hospitality (ἀλλὰ φιλόξενον)
In Greek this is just one word, φιλόξενον, which refers to a love (philo) for strangers (xenon), or a love for people that are foreign to or different from one another. It is also interesting that in the history of this word, xenos can refer either to the host or to the guest. That is to say, being hospitable (loving the foreigner) is not just the role of the host but also includes being a good guest.
So hospitality is not merely the action of feeding someone or welcoming them into your home (though that is often a big part of it), but it is more importantly a steadydisposition, or a ready eagerness to open your heart and life to others.
I should also note that while we tend to think of hospitality as a more feminine virtue, since our wives are often the ones cooking and cleaning and making things homely, notice that it is the man’s job as head of his household to take the lead by acquiring this hospitable disposition, even if his wife carries out some of the actions. See Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18 for a good example of this.
Paul describes what this hospitable state of mind looks like in 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.
Paul yearns for the Corinthians to be open-hearted even as he has been open-hearted towards them.
He says likewise in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
So Paul has modeled for the Corinthians and the Thessalonians, what hospitality ought to look like, even as an unmarried man, without a home, and without a bunch of extra material resources to share. What Paul had was an abundance of love and truth and a ready eagerness to share that love and truth with everyone. Moreover, since Paul was a traveling missionary, he was often the guest living and staying in other people’s homes.
So the essential mark of a hospitable person, is that it brings them joy to share with others the things that are most valuable. The things that are most life-giving. Food and drink are just the material means to that spiritual end. And the Lord Jesus illustrates this for us by his teaching the five thousand and then feeding the five thousand. One exists for the sake of the other.
It says in Proverbs 11:25, The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.
And in Isaiah 32:8 it says, But a generous man devises generous things, And by generosity he shall stand.
So the hospitable soul knows by experience that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Now God knows that when we try love people who are different from us, it can get awkward, it can be uncomfortable, and that can go both directions (for both hosts and guests).
If you have ever traveled abroad, and been served food that you did not recognize, you know how nerve-racking it can be to eat the fish-eye ball soup, or the cow’s tongue. What might be an expensive delicacy and an honor to serve in one culture may be anathema in the next. And so part of being hospitable is learning to just roll with things as they come, and to not take yourself too seriously.
When we remember what the whole point of hospitality is: to simply love someone for God’s sake, then we can relax a bit. We can adjust our expectations so that we aren’t offended by someone’s difference in manners, while also doing our best to give offense.
It says in 1 Peter 4:9, Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
And in Romans 12:8, show mercy with cheerfulness.
God loves a cheerful giver, and that includes the cheerful giving and sharing of our own food, table, and lives.
Remember that the goal in all of this is to bring people to God’s table. To establish fellowship in the light between God and our guests. This is what it means to be lover of hospitality.
#2 – A bishop must be a lover of good men (φιλάγαθον)
Again, in Greek this is just one word, φιλάγαθον, and most translations put it more broadly as simply a lover of what is good.
The idea is that a bishop must love what God loves and hate what God hates. He has tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and he wants that good for himself and his people.
To be a lover of good men is to say with David in Psalm 16:3, As for the saints who are on the earth, They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. And in Psalm 68:36, God is wondrous in His saints, the God of Israel shall give power and strength unto His people.
When a bishop obeys Romans 12:9, which says, Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Then he can say with the Apostle about his own church what Paul says to the Thessalonians, For ye are our glory and joy (1 Thess 2:20).
To be a lover of what is good is to delight in the fruit of the spirit that grows from a regenerated heart. And this love for what is good is most necessary in a bishop, because a bishop like a good gardener must know when to prune and when to nourish, when to call someone to humble themselves and when to encourage another that is downcast.
Only a man who loves what God loves can be entrusted with the pruning knife. And so this quality a bishop must possess and ever seek to grow in.
#3 – A bishop must be sober (σώφρονα)
Or of sound mind. Other translations of this Greek word σώφρονα, are discreet, or of sound judgment, prudent, and thoughtful. The idea is that the sober person has mastery (self-control) over what he thinks about and gives his attention to.
This quality is repeated in Titus 2:2 and Titus 2:5 in the lists of what an older man must be, and also what a younger woman must be. So this is a quality for everyone and of utmost importance to Paul, perhaps because the Cretan culture especially lacked it. Remember Titus 1:12 says, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
So Christian men, Christian women, and a Bishop especially must be of sober judgment, controlled in their thought life.
This means you are guarding the entrances of your mind. It says in Psalm 101:3-4, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. And it says in Proverbs 2:10-12, When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things.
It is not easy to keep yourself unstained from this world, this evil and adulterous generation. The world is corrupt in its desires and revels in its corruption, and the tentacles of sin are always trying to drag us down to hell.
Therefore, the Christian must always be on guard, constant in his watchfulness, and diligent to acquire what Philippians 4:7 describes, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [and then how does that guarding of our peace in Christ take place? verse 8] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Are you doing this? If not, you are drinking the cup of worldliness, you are imbibing the spirit of the age which is insobriety and perversion.
The discreet and sober Christian wants to live in the light and stay in the light. For as it says in Ephesians 5:10-12, find out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
The sober man, and the sober bishop exposes the darkness to the light. And therefore, as Jesus says in Matthew 6:23, But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
The light of the eye is the mind. And therefore, a bishop’s eye must be ever illumined by the light that is Christ. This is how we can become sober and discreet.
#4 – A bishop must be just (δίκαιον)
While sobriety refers to the mind’s ability to know and discern what is right in particular circumstances (we call this the virtue of prudence), justice refers to our ability and desire to carry it out.
So how do you know if you are just person?
The person who has the virtue of justice, finds joy in giving to others what is due to them.
For example, a husband who delights to love, provide for, and cherish his wife, is fulfilling the justice of the marriage relationship. A wife who delights to honor, respect, and reverence her husband, is fulfilling the justice of God’s law for marriage.
Children who cheerfully obey their parents, are fulfilling the justice of the Parent-Child relationship.
Civil magistrates who punish evildoers with the sword and praise the righteous, who are impartial in their verdicts and do not take a bribe, are fulfilling the justice of the law.
Paul says in Romans 13:7-8, Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
So a bishop must be a just man in his marriage, in his parenting, in his business and civil relations. And when he has acquired this virtue of justice, together with the virtue of prudence, he is equipped to govern the church for the good and health of the whole body.
One of the essential aspects of doing justice in the church, is knowing how best to apportion limited time, energy, and resources, such that the whole church is benefitted.
We see this principle of justice at work in the book of Acts when office of Deacon is established. The Apostles say in Acts 6:2-4, It is not reason/fitting that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
So the Apostles recognized that it was unjust for the Greek widows to be neglected in the daily distribution. And yet they knew that it would be more unjust to stop praying and preaching to serve tables. Therefore, from justice, they appoint wise deacons to see that justice is done for the widows, while they attend to seeing that justice is done for the broader church.
So a bishop has to factor in and weigh all these diverse and competing needs with the goal of being equitable.Equity requires that we prioritize, distinguish, and discern what God says is due to each member in the church, while ordering all those individual and private needs to the good and public wellbeing of the whole.
For example, with 4 elders, and 40 member households, we are trying to schedule elder visits to everyone twice a year. Is that possible? Is that sustainable? We don’t know yet, but it brings us joy to visit you, and we want to visit everyone insofar as it serves the good of the whole body. If our elder visits started to prevent us or get in the way of prayer and preaching and worship and other duties, we have to re-evaluate. This is the hard work of justice, and a bishop especially must have this virtue.
#5 – A bishop must be holy (ὅσιον)
Now there are a few different Hebrew and Greek words that we translate into English as holy. The most common Greek word for holy is ἅγιος, which refers to being dedicated/set apart by God for His use. We sometimes call this sanctification, or as it says in 1 Peter 1:16, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
However, while a bishop must and should be ἅγιος, the word that Paul uses here is ὅσιον which could be better translated as devout, or pious. We might say that to be ὅσιον/holy in this sense refers to a man’s wholehearted dedication to God, or his piety in giving to God what is God’s due.
Taken in this sense, a bishop must have a singular devotion to Christ. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine…Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Tim 4:13, 15).
A man should be devout long before he becomes a bishop or an elder. This is because someone can appear devoted to God and seem zealous for a season, but the mark of true devotion is that the flame of charity increases in intensity as the years go by.
The devout person considers it a great joy and privilege to pray. It is a delight and not merely a duty. Moreover, the devout person yearns for the solitude and quiet of communion with God, and yet joyfully attends to the business of life by bringing with him that spirit of prayer.
It says in Proverbs 28:14, Happy is the man who is always reverent. And it is this happiness of revering God that the pious soul knows well. A bishop therefore must be devout.
#6 – A bishop must be temperate (ἐγκρατῆ)
Temperance is the virtue that governs and moderates our desire for what makes us feel good. The temperate person finds and keeps the balance between excess and deficiency, especially in matters of the physical appetites (food, drink, sex, and the like).
Paul describes this virtue in athletic terms in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
So temperance can look like John the Baptist, who wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and wild honey. But temperance can also look like Jesus Christ, who came eating and drinking, and turned water into wine.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:18-19, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
So the virtue of temperance is judged by what it produces. John’s temperance produced boldness and humility to call the whole nation of Jews to repentance, to be a voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord and making his paths straight.
What about Jesus’ temperance? What did that produce? Jesus feasted and drank with sinners and tax collectors, with men like Zachaeus, and with women who were prostitutes, or demon possessed. But then those men became former sinners and former tax collectors. Matthew the tax-collector became an apostle and author of the first gospel. Some of the women like Mary Magdalene became disciples of Jesus who ministered to him of their substance (Luke 8:2) and became witnesses of the resurrection.
Both the temperance of John and the temperance of Jesus’ were for the sake of our salvation. And therefore, a bishop just like every other Christian, should strive for mastery. He should run the race set before him, seeking to obtain the prize.
Christ was temperate for us, and so we should be temperate for Christ.And by God’s grace we all shall obtain the prize. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.