Teach What Accords With Sound Doctrine

In one paragraph

This message walked through Titus 2:1-11, part of an ongoing chronological study of the New Testament. The pastor worked through Paul's household code, looking at what faithful Christian living looks like for older men, older women, younger women, and younger men in the congregation at Crete, and how those same expectations carry forward to believers today. The thread running through every group...

Read together

1. Titus 1 appointing elders in every church, covered in previous weeks
2. Titus 2:1-14 the household code passage being preached through
3. Ephesians 5:22-6:9 cited as a comparable household code passage
4. Colossians 3:18-4:1 cited as a comparable household code passage
5. 1 Timothy 2, 3, 5 cited as comparable household code passages
6. 1 Peter 2:13-3:7 cited as a comparable household code passage
7. Romans 13 Christians are to submit to governing authorities
8. Proverbs 31 the woman who handles the affairs of her household well and goes to the city gates
9. Psalm 51:12 restore unto me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit
10. Colossians 4:5-6 walk in wisdom toward outsiders, speech seasoned with salt, making best use of the time

Talk about it

1. The pastor spent time walking through commentaries written in different decades and noticed that what the text says stayed the same but the application shifted with the times. Where do you think the line is between faithful application and letting the culture soften what the Bible actually says?
2. Four different groups get a list in Titus 2, and self-control shows up on every one of them. What did the pastor mean when he said self-control is not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, and how does that change the way you think about areas of your life that feel out of control?
3. The older women are specifically called to teach the younger women, and the older men are held to a standard that models what those younger men need. Who in your life has played that role for you, and are you playing it for anyone right now?
4. The pastor said the phrase 'so that the word of God may not be reviled' could be extended back through the whole household code, not just the one line it is attached to. What does it look like practically when a Christian's behavior actually gets in the way of someone hearing the gospel?
5. The sermon closed by connecting the four mentions of self-control in this passage to the first three steps of recovery, which move from admitting powerlessness to recognizing God has the power to letting Him use it. Is there something in your own life where you have admitted the first part but not yet gotten to the third?