Expectations for Older Men | Titus 2:1-2

When you study the New Testament, you see very clearly and you hear the Lord talk about his

church with a series of beautiful descriptive metaphors. Sometimes he refers to us as the temple

of God, made up of living stones. That's us. With Jesus as the foundation, Jesus as the cornerstone,

and the Holy Spirit indwelling it. It's a beautiful picture. At other times, he calls us the household

of God, which is a beautiful picture of a house that's filled with redeemed sons and daughters.

And then there are the two most common and beloved metaphors. The church is the

body of Christ, with each believer functioning as an individual part of that body, but

the truth that we're also members of one another, such that we are one in him.

And then finally, the church is the bride of Christ, the bride whom he loves. In fact,

we're told in Ephesians 5 that this is how much Jesus loves his bride. He gave himself up for her

so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle

or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. So God, the Son, emptied himself,

took on the form of a humble servant, and being found in the likeness of men, he gave himself up

for us, for his beautiful bride, suffering and dying on that cross. Yes, first of all,

to save us from our sins, but more to sanctify us. We sometimes forget about this. We get the

salvation part, but to sanctify us, to set us apart among all of humankind for divine cleansing,

washing us by the power of his word. And for what reason? Ultimately, that one day we might be

presented to him as a perfectly chaste and holy bride. No more stains. Amen. No more stains.

No more spots. No more wrinkles. A bride that is perfectly fit for a perfectly holy bridegroom.

And as we wait for that day here in this local church at Oak Hill, we're supposed to be doing

our part as a piece of that bride. And that's where we're headed over the next few weeks in

our study in the book of Titus, to answer this question, how can we here at Oak Hill develop

into a healthy body and a beautiful bride, one that displays the splendor of Christ to a watching

world? Isn't that a great goal? Let me say it again, that we would become a healthy body and

a beautiful bride that displays the splendor of Christ to a watching world. Grab your Bibles,

and let's go to Titus chapter two now. Oh, you're already there, aren't you?

You guys are good. Okay, so far, Paul has been exhorting Titus to make sure the churches in

Crete are moving in a healthy spiritual direction. First, by doing what? Establishing qualified

elders in each local body, men who are both faithful to the apostolic teaching and able

to refute error. That was step one. Step two was silencing the men who had slipped into the church

in Crete and promoted all kinds of false teaching and man-made traditions. We saw all of that in

chapter one. So if we now go back to our outline, we see again these three, the chapters line up

really nicely, godly leadership in the church, that's the theme of chapter one, godly saints at

home in chapter two, and eventually we'll get to godly citizens in society. And even as we look at

these roles that God has for us in the home, both male and female, I want you to keep in mind,

throughout chapter two, Paul still has in the back of his mind as an overarching goal,

how to build churches that are spiritually healthy, because spiritually healthy churches are made up

of spiritually healthy sheep. Does that make sense? Are you with me? Are you out there? Good. So

Paul wants to promote sanctification in every aspect of life in Crete and then have an impact

by strengthening and making us more effective as a bride. Strong leaders, sound doctrine, biblical

marriages, and good citizens, all of those things adorn the gospel and they become a testimony to

the lost world. So beginning here in chapter two, verse one, Paul's going to give Titus some very

specific instructions about how to build churches that are spiritually healthy, and how to build

churches that are spiritually healthy, and how we should exhort men and women in the congregation.

And actually, before we get to chapter two, turn back to chapter one, and let's make sure we're

reading in the context of the letter. And by the way, just as a general rule, when you open up the

Bible and you're like, I'm going to read a chapter today, and the first word is but,

you should stop and go back and figure out what that but's all about, because it's referring to

chapter one, verse 16, and we'll sort of get the flow of it. It says, they, that is the false teachers

who need to be silenced, they profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him. Being detestable

and disobedient and worthless or unfit for any good deed. And we sort of defined those things last week.

Now, on to chapter two, verse one, but as for you, and there's the reason for the but, right?

Paul is drawing a contrast now between what the false teachers have done in Crete and what Titus

now needs to do in these churches. But as for you, Titus, here's what I want you to do. Speak the

things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible,

sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their

behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good so that they may

encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure,

workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be

dishonored. Likewise, urge the young men to be sensible. In all things, show yourself to be an

example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond

reproach so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

So you see where this is going. All these categories of people, but it's all heading up

or heading towards this comment at the end, having nothing bad to say about us, a testimony

to the lost world. So we'll stop there. Eight verses, again, that show us God's expectations

for these four major categories of people in the church. In fact, the layout that Paul uses here

is something that we call a semantic chiasm, which looks a little bit like this. You see, first of

all, he's going to talk about older men and then older women, and then come back to younger women

and end with younger men. That's a simple chiasm. And we're going to take one Sunday for each one

of those categories. Now you may say, that's a lot of Sundays for just four groups of people,

but this is how important each of those groups of people are to a fully functioning, healthy church.

What does that mean for this morning? It means old guys, you're up first. Old men are up to bat.

Tom, I see Tom over there. He's nice. Now, as we walk through the expectations of these four groups

over these four Sundays, we have to remember that we're all called to grow in grace and understanding,

all of us. And not just for ourselves, but for the benefit and well-being of all the others

in the body of Christ. So my life should build you up and your life should build me up, and together,

we encourage each other unto love and good deeds. We have to get that unity picture. And then together,

the scripture of Peter tells us that's how the Spirit works in us to build us up as living stones

into this beautiful spiritual house that reflects the glory and splendor of our bridegroom.

So we don't just live and grow for our own sake, but in my opinion, that's one of the great heirs

that evangelicalism has made over the last 40 years. We decided, I don't know who decided it or

when, but this trend happened where we talked about this individualistic walk with Jesus. It's

about me and God, me and God, me and God. And there is some truth to that, but the New Testament

tells us that our growth is to be a benefit and an encouragement to every other member in the

congregation. That unity piece is so important. So here in chapter two, Paul's saying to Titus,

all right Titus, God's truth needs to be brought to bear on every category of people in the Cretan

churches so that all of these local bodies, which have been struggling because of false teaching,

so that they can all be strengthened and built up in the faith. Got it? Now, two important things

before we talk about older men. We'll get there. First of all, there is something of a practical

tension when we talk about this idea of categories of people in the church. Think about this for a

second. On the one hand, we should acknowledge that there are legitimate distinctions between

older folks and younger folks, and there are legitimate distinctions between men and women

in the body, right? And there are various nuances in the way we address members of each of those

groups, the way that we minister to them. And yet it's so important that we acknowledge this truth

that it's important that men affirm the value and ministry of women, and that women affirm the value

and ministry of men, and that the older folks should appreciate what the younger members bring

to the body, and the younger folks have to value the older saints and what they contribute to the

church. So those distinctions are present in any local church, but here's the other part of the

tension. In spite of our differences, the local church should always strive to function in an

intergenerational way, in an intergenerational way, meaning with the exception of, you know,

specific ministries, we have men's ministry and women's ministries, with the exception of that,

all four of these categories of members should be interacting and mixing in every possible scenario

that you possibly can. When a church isolates individual groups too often, and I've seen this

happens a lot in bigger churches where you've got, you got a ministry for everything, for left-handed,

you know, graduates of community college with blue eyes, you know, and so we segment ourselves,

I just literally made that up off the top of my head, we segment ourselves so much, and we isolate

ourselves so much, and it stunts the overall growth of the body because we need each other.

So let's remember that the church is a family, and in any family there's going to be ages and

genders, and we have to be together. We have to figure out how to know people who are different

than us and love people who are different from us. That's, that's God's design. It's God's design

that we not only live life together, but catch this now, learn from each other. Wait, are you

saying younger people can learn from older? Older can learn from younger? Wait, men and women? Really?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. To know each other, to serve each other, to love each other, and to learn

from each other. This is one of the reasons why I cringe every time I hear about a church,

and maybe you've heard about this, it has, they have multiple services, and one is called the

traditional service, right? And who shows up at the traditional service? You know, all the old

fogies, and they shake their fist at the sky, this is our traditional service, and then they have a,

what, contemporary service, and that's where all the young people show up, and usually what's the

distinction between the two? Yeah, music. Music and worship. Are we going to sing hymns or not?

Are we going to have drums or not? And it's petty. It's petty, and it's harmful to the unity of the

body. When it comes to preferences like music, we need to embrace our differences. Again, learn from

each other in light of the Philippians 2 model, which is, guys, such an important principle. Man,

tape this on your mirror at home. If you really want to love the church, know this passage. Be of

the same mind, Paul says, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on your own purpose,

whatever it is. No, intent on one purpose, one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty

conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Imagine a church where everybody is doing that. How amazing that would be. Do not merely look out

for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. So that's one thing. The other

thing I want to talk about before we dive in is that everybody in this body now, I've laid out a

preaching schedule for these four groups, right? You're all going to be tempted to look ahead and

say, oh, that's my Sunday, and I don't need the other Sundays because it's not addressing me.

You're going to be tempted to do that, right? After all, why should the 30-year-old woman

care about what God says to older men, right? Well, you need to care. You need to care because,

again, we're a family and our lives are intertwined. The spiritual growth of an older saint

affects the younger saint and vice versa. And God's calling upon women affects the men

and vice versa. So guys, get to know each other and strive to understand the unique challenges

and temptations that other types of people in the body face. I cannot stress this enough.

We get so locked into us, and again, me and God, well, this is what I'm dealing with. Have you

thought about somebody who's different than you? Older, younger, male or female, what are they

faced with? What challenges, what temptations? So that you can minister to them and encourage

them and live life with them in a way that builds them up. Oh, and by the way, as we address the

older saints this morning, younger folks, your day is coming. You will be there, trust me,

and it will be faster than you can imagine. I was barely into my 40s when God put it on my heart to

plant Oak Hill Bible Church and snap, I woke up in my 60s. And I don't know how it happened. So it

will happen to you as well. As the great theologian Mick Jagger once said, time waits for no one.

Time waits for no one. By the way, that's 1974 for you young whippersnappers.

You guys know who Mick Jagger is? I just, it just dawned on me. Not that you need to, but ask me

later. Okay. All right. Let's look back at verse one again. Verse one. Remember, Paul is writing

here with this backdrop of the false teachers in Crete, right? Who are what? Rebellious, he said,

empty talkers, deceivers who are out there promoting all kinds of myths and manmade traditions.

But as for you Titus, he says, speak to things which are fitting, or maybe your translation says,

which are consistent with sound doctrine. And back to our key question, how does the church

develop into the kind of healthy body and beautiful bride that points people to Christ?

Well, it's through the sanctification of God's people. This is how this happens. You know,

guys know sanctification, the spiritual maturity, the spiritual growth of the people in the churches.

So members growing, members loving, members serving, members practically living out what

they profess to be true about their salvation. So that's how we're going to adorn the gospel.

That's how we're going to build a beautiful bride and a healthy body. But before we get to the people,

you've got to see this truth in verse one. What is the foundation of sanctification?

The things which are consistent with sound doctrine. See, the temptation in Titus two is to jump into

these categories of people and miss this statement. This is what powers and this is what promotes

sanctified living, sound doctrine. Let me say it again. Sound doctrine is what powers and promotes

sanctified living. Remember Paul wrote to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3. He said, it's the God-breathed

scriptures which reprove us, correct us, and train us in righteousness so that we're equipped for every

good work. That is sanctification. And it's in the scriptures that we discover which doctrines are

sound and which ones are unsound. So if you don't start here with sound doctrine, you're not going

to get to your goal. Now the word sound is found everywhere in the pastoral epistles. Paul

loves to use this word as a descriptor. In fact, 10 times in his letters to Timothy and Titus,

he talks about things that are sound. And he says sound doctrine, sound teaching, sound words,

sound faith, and sound speech. And I mentioned this just recently in our study of elders,

the Greek word for sound here is the same one that was used in chapter one, hugiaeino,

and it's where we get our word hygiene from. Hygiene. Which tells you that wherever you see

this word sound in scripture, it's a reference to something that is healthy. So you could say sound,

but it also means just healthy. It's rooted in good hygiene. If there's anything clear from the

pastoral epistles, it's that the Lord is concerned about His church being healthy, both in its

doctrines and also in its practical application. Both of those things, right? And the teaching of

sound doctrine, when it's received by the people, when it's believed by the people, and then it's

applied by the people, that produces sound living. Healthy doctrine, healthy living. And it's not an

either or proposition. You can't just, as a church, say, well, we're going to talk just about sound

doctrine. Whereas a church, we're just going to talk about healthy living. It can't be either or,

it's got to be both. And I've heard of churches that make this mistake. Maybe you know a church

like this, where they lean too strongly on one or the other. There's a lot of churches out there

that you would say, man, they are so strong on teaching and doctrine, but then they miss the

application side of it, right? And you can't just fill people's heads with theology and expect them

to live healthy, right? The Christian life is not just about, hey, can I go to church today and

accumulate some more facts and information about the Bible? That is not sufficient. And then there's

churches that are out there saying, okay, we're going to focus really heavily on practical

application, so go live out the Bible. But then they fail to exposit the deep truths of doctrines

that serve as the foundation for that kind of living. So we can't err on those things. Both

doctrine and practical application are required for healthy congregations and healthy churches.

And elders, okay, elders are still in view here. Elders have to make sure that both of those things

are happening. We need to feed the flock by, Paul says, speaking of these things. Now that word

speak is interesting. You see that in your text in verse one? Speak. In the original Greek, it's

laleo. Put it on the screen here, which by the way is not the typical word for teaching or for preaching.

So what Paul's talking about here is more than just, you know, formal teaching from a pulpit

or from a music stand. He is talking about everyday conversations. He's talking about ordinary

language. So he says to Titus, in all your interactions throughout the day and in every

aspect of church life, proclaim and talk about sound doctrine that's going to line up with

apostolic teaching. By the way, it's also important to notice that laleo here is in the present tense,

which means that he's telling Titus, make sure the elders are continually doing this. That's what

present tense does. Keep on doing these things. Keep talking, keep proclaiming. In every aspect

of church life, healthy doctrine that leads to healthy living and be relentless about it.

Keep doing it. Why? Because do you think the false teachers are going to just quit and go away?

They are not. And they still aren't even to this day. So you've got to be relentless about

speaking of these things all the time when you're together. Healthy doctrine, healthy living. Make

sense? Understand that's the foundation for everything we're about to talk about for old

men. Okay, so let's get to this group. Older men. Can I get a little whoop whoop for the older guys?

By the way, yesterday morning, we had a baby boomer breakfast buffet for bees and was amazing.

We all brought our favorite cereals from our childhood. Mine actually isn't even available

anymore, but that's a whole nother thing. But it was so sweet to be together and just get to know

each other better and to have a good breakfast and we're going to keep doing it because we're boomers.

I'm the youngest boomer in the church, by the way. Very proud of that. Just barely made it. Okay,

so what is an older man? How do we define older man? Well, Paul doesn't tell us. In God's wisdom,

he doesn't give us a number. And I think that's smart, right? Because it's going to be relative

to each, you know, historical age that people live in. Back in the first century Roman Empire,

life expectancy was much, much shorter than it is today. So catch this now. Some of you guys who

are starting to see middle age coming. In first century Crete, to be an older man might have meant

35 or 40. Grant? Sorry, man. But today, we're going to be talking about the first century

Roman Empire. But today, as we look at our culture today, the best way I think we should think about

it is probably 50 and over. And why do I say that? Because that's about the time when your kids are

becoming adults, they're ready to leave the nest. And at the same time, you're dealing with elderly

parents. Maybe you've already lost them, but you're dealing with elderly parents as well.

And at that point, you're starting to face the prospect of retirement. So there's a lot going on.

It's also that age where you really realize, man, my physical body just doesn't work anymore.

It is, it is, I know in my head what I should do, but my body can't cash that check. And it can be

very, very frustrating. You also realize that the vitality and the good looks you once had, all gone.

All gone. Nobody's looking anymore. But what's beautiful about hitting this age, and this is for

both men and women, is that there is another form of beauty that comes with age, that can grow over

the years. And it's not a skincare routine. It's not a weight loss program. I'm talking about the

beauty of a person who, who over their lifetime has developed a resume of experience and wisdom

and Christ-like character that can be passed down to others, and also can be set before the world as

a testimony to how the Holy Spirit changes lives. That is a beauty that we all, even if you're young

right now, need to be shooting for. But I'm sad to report that far too often, that is not the case.

In my experience, in all the years I've been in the church, that's often not the case with older men.

Uniquely older men, even more so than older women. And let me share a few of my observations why that

might be. And by the way, obviously this is very personal to me right now, because I'm in this

category. But these are all things I'm about to describe that I am actively trying to resist as an

older man. So that I don't be, I don't fall into these things. For example, age makes you grouchy.

And just more disagreeable than you once were. Now some of that is due to physical aches and

pains, and some of that really can't be helped. But they're, they're, being grouchy and disagreeable

can come from something that you can work on and fix over time. And that is the fact that you're

just set in your ways more than you ever were. Which is a nice way of saying you're just stubborn.

You're just, you're set in your ways and you're stubborn and you're not going to look at anything

else. And where that becomes unhealthy in the church, this is a great temptation to get critical

of everything that you see. Just critical. And you get that, that, oh those young whippersnappers

don't know what they're doing back in my day. Right? Old man shakes his fist at the sky, right? That,

that type of thing. Constantly criticizing. And you start to grumble in this, this negative attitude,

because you're not feeling well or you're, whatever it is, age has crept up on you. And now

in your body language and the way you speak to others around you, it's becoming apparent.

And there's an arrogance behind it, a prideful attitude that says, well, I'm older, my age makes

me smarter than all these young people. But that's not always true. That's not always true.

Having more years on the planet can make you wiser, but it's not automatic.

There's a lot of young fools in this world, but there are many old fools as well,

who haven't grown in wisdom. And they just think that age has made them that, but that's,

again, that's not automatic. Sometimes older men are just resistant to change.

We just want things to be like they've always been, because it's comfortable and we don't want

to change. We're poor at adapting to new ideas. And again, if we're not careful, we're going to

find ourselves, you know, reminiscing about the good old days or talking about how hard it was

back in our day, right? And the reality is whether it's right or not, folks have moved on.

They've moved on. And what's most important is what's happening in the present, not just

constantly looking back to the past. But that truth can make an older man become critical of

anything that the younger generation of believers are doing. And I see this in churches sometimes.

I just can't get behind all these newfangled ideas, these new things that we're doing,

these newfangled ideas, these new things. And rather than striving to learn those new things,

rather than trying to discover new ways to minister in today's world, we just get more hardened

in the seats that we're sitting in. And that's not good. It's not healthy.

And then there's the one thing that I see that's probably the most common fault among older men

in the church today. And this is the one that just breaks my heart to no end.

It's when older men are just checked out. They're just checked out. There's a lot of reasons why

this happens. For some, it's because of past hurts in life, maybe regrets, bitterness sets in,

causing us to pull back from letting people really know us or investing time in getting to know them.

For some, we're just emotionally disconnected, spiritually disconnected. And then tragically,

sometimes men, because of their past, they'll go passive and they'll just let their wife lead

spiritually because it's easier and she's better at it than me. So I'll just check out and go passive.

I've seen that so many times. And there are men who are just tired from all the battles

that they've had to fight in life to get to where they are today. Battles in relationships,

battles in careers, whatever it might be. And so there gets into the mind of a man,

you know what? Retirement sounds pretty good. Maybe if I just disappear, things will get better.

So I buy that plot of land in Montana and I escape city life and off I ride into the sunset.

I don't want to be bothered anymore. That happens to a lot of guys in their older years.

The problem is nowhere in scripture does God give older men permission to drop out of the race.

It's not there. Retirement is a completely modern concept that the first century believers would

have said, what? What do you mean? We're not given permission to drop out of the race.

So with those things in mind, let's see what we should look like, older guys, in our season of

life. Look at verse two again and let's walk through what Paul says we should look like.

Now I don't think this is a comprehensive list. Paul's just giving us a few important examples

of what a godly older man's life would look like. And again, we should note that these things don't

automatically come with age. They've got to be pursued. Brothers, we should know that these

things are not going to be pursued. Brothers, they've got to be pursued. They've got to be

cultivated in your life and ultimately they've got to be produced by the Holy Spirit as we submit our

lives to him and say, Lord, sanctify me, grow me. I'm not going to be one of those hardened old guys

who just sits here, you know, shaking my fist. No, I want to grow. I want to learn. So Holy Spirit,

do work in me. So three things are given to us here at the beginning of verse two. The first one

is temperate, nephalios in the Greek. Temperate. Now in a literal sense, this word means to be sober.

But Paul's got a bigger idea. What he's driving at here is being sober-minded, being clear-headed

about life. This is what we should be. The man who's entered into his 50s, 60s, 70s or more,

Bill Henderson. We love Bill. Are you 90 yet? Almost 90. Love it. That man has entered a place

in his life where, guess what, he's more moderate than he used to be. He's more clear-thinking than

he used to be. He's learned the lessons of being a younger man and all the foolishness that goes

with it, all the self-indulgent living, and he's a different man. When he was younger, he probably had

big dreams. He poured his energy into all kinds of pursuits, and now he's looking back and he has the

wisdom to say, you know what, that was worth it, but so much of it was not. Age gives you that

perspective. He now understands the proper value of certain things looking back. Other things in the

long run, you know what, they just didn't matter that much. They meant so much when I was in my

20s, but now looking back, they actually don't. And so he has that perspective. Maybe he looks back and

he sees all the things that he wanted so badly. I want possessions and achievements. I want this

career, and even as he might have met some of those goals, he now realizes they never really

brought me satisfaction. They just didn't. That there were more important things I could have been

throwing my life into than those pursuits, and that wisdom that only comes from experience now

shapes his priorities. He's more careful in his decisions. His judgments are more balanced. They're

more discerning. Today he can see what really matters. He can throw his time and his energy

into things that truly matter. The peace of knowing Christ and abiding with him. The value of deep

relationships and family. The richness of life in the church and opportunities that he's given by

God to serve other people. And as you get older, those are the things that really matter. Friends,

this is wisdom. This is what it means to be sober-minded about life. Temperate. The second

thing in this list here is that older men should be dignified. Semnos in the Greek. And it means to

be revered or to be worthy of respect. Older men should be worthy of respect. Now in the English

vernacular, the word dignified, it might have a negative connotation. You might think of a dignified

man as arrogant and condescending. I picture like this this British lord on his country manor.

He's stately and he's dignified, but that is not what the biblical word means. In the biblical sense,

dignified means a man is humble. A man who is respected because of his humility.

Respected because of his kindness and his godly habits and the words that he chooses carefully.

The way he prioritizes his wife and others in the body of Christ. And as others look at him,

especially younger men, because younger men need role models. They need examples to look up to.

Younger men get to know him and they see his life. Not just what he presents, but they get to know

him in the back room of his life, in his home, in relationship. And they say, you know what?

I respect that man. I honor that life in the body of Christ. That's what it means to be dignified.

It's a great thing. Third thing is that men should be sensible, suffering in the Greek.

Paul says they should be sensible. Really what this word means is their lives should be balanced

and they should be under control. Right? All the crazy, you know, emotions and desires and passions

of youth have been tamed. And now life is under control. This older gentleman is not impulsive

any longer. He's not careless or foolish in the decisions that he makes. He's self-disciplined.

Self-disciplined. His experience over the years and the work of the Holy Spirit within him have

produced good judgment and discernment. And so he's the type of man that can be trusted.

And that is such an important thing, right? He can be trusted by his wife, by his kids, by his

friends, by his brothers and sisters in the church. He's sensible. So you see here three

character traits that do come with age, but also with spiritual maturity. The recklessness of youth

gets replaced by being sober-minded. And the foolishness of youth gets replaced with being

dignified. And the impulsiveness of youth gets replaced with being self-controlled. And guys,

older men with these character traits are a powerful force in the local body of Christ.

We need more of them. We need more of them. And if you're an older gentleman, you're already a

part of Oak Hill here, let this be a great challenge to you. I'm challenged by it, that we

might grow in these areas, that we might become these men that Paul says we are. And we might

grow in these men that Paul says we ought to be. Again, why? To make our body healthier and to make

the bride more beautiful for the glory of Christ. Amen? Okay, but Paul goes on, right? Let's finish

verse two. There's more to come. After those three great character traits, Paul gives us like a triad

of characteristics, a threefold statement. Older man should be sound in faith, sound in love, and

perseverance or endurance. Which, by the way, if you think about 1 Corinthians 13, the great,

the excellence of Christian love, remember how Paul says, now these three remain, faith, hope, and

love, but the greatest of these is love. This sort of echoes that, right? Some of these same,

same things. So let's walk through them. First of all, an older man should be sound in faith. He

should be, his faith should be biblically healthy. And that means, this is an important word, his

faith is unwavering. By the time a man becomes an older man, he gets into his 50s, 60s, 70s, 90s,

his faith should be unwavering. It's the kind of personal faith that is deeply rooted in two things.

Catch this now, deeply rooted in two things. His personal study of scripture,

his per, not just hearing sermons and teaching, but his personal study of scripture,

and his daily abiding with Christ. Guys, you will not become unwavering in your faith without those

two things. You hear me with that? Your personal study of scripture and abiding with Christ. That's

what gets you to being unwavering in your faith. So the older man who's seen enough, been through

enough, now he's older, he looks back and he knows, he can look back and say, God has been faithful

all throughout my life. That doesn't mean he hasn't had hardships and struggles. Every man on the

planet has to fight battles. We fight battles each and every day. It doesn't mean that hardship goes

away. It's that he can look back and go, God carried me through those times. He is both sovereign

and he is good. And I know that he's faithful. The older man is convinced of this. The doubts he once

had, and sometimes doubts creep in, especially when we're younger and we're trying to figure out

the world, those have disappeared. He's convinced of it. And he's not, the God, the older man is not

bitter about the past. He's not angry with God because of the things that, that, that God allowed

him to go through, the trials of life. He doesn't feel like God disappointed in him in some way.

He's actually able to look back and go, Lord, I saw how you grew me through those times. I'm

through me through those difficulties and I'm thankful for it. That's what the older man does.

He doesn't accuse God of being unfair. He does not angry at God for what he's gone through.

He's firm in what he believes. He knows why he believes it and he is all in. You know,

poker metaphor, he is all, all in on Jesus all the way to the end. Amen. Second thing, he's got to be

sound in love, a healthy spiritual love, which as we know is first of all, vertically with God and

horizontally out to others. It's not just vertical. Can't just be, well, I'm sitting at home and I'm

fine with God. No, it, it gets manifested horizontally out to others, to the family of faith.

So rather than growing old and crotchety and hard to live with, this is a man who is a joy to be with

because he loves other people, because he puts other people first. Look, guys, we all love people

who prior to our prioritize us and others, right? An unselfish man. He's known for his kindness and

gentleness for putting others first. He loves in both word and action. He doesn't just say he cares

for you. He cares for you. He practices the one another's. He's an encourager. He's bearing with

others. Listen, his body may be weaker, but his spirit is growing stronger. Again, that's the beauty

of growing old. Your body is going to get weak, but man, your, your faith and your love and your

spirit can get stronger in the final season of life. Lastly, Paul calls the older man to be sound

in endurance. And of all the people on the earth, this should be true of Christians, right?

Especially if you're getting older, you're getting closer to physical death, to heaven.

So we got to endure. We know how the story ends, right? The story of the world, the story of our

lives. And so we can endure whatever else comes our way. And let's, we can be honest as you get

older, yeah, sickness, illness, disease. I'm not looking forward to it. None of us does, but we can

endure it because we know how the story ends. Right? We know where we're headed. We're sure of it.

By the time you're in your sixties and seventies, a man has suffered a lot.

I could go around the room. You've suffered, yet you're still here. You're still kicking. What does

that mean? God wants you here. So don't lose heart. He has a purpose for you. Old guys,

he has a purpose for you. And we just have to watch to see what that purpose is and then engage

with it. Not pull back, not walk away, not ride off into the subset. The godly man keeps enduring.

He doesn't drop out of the race. He runs all the way to the end, right to the very last moment.

So he's sound in faith. He's sound in love. He's sound in endurance. And this friends is the type

of mature faith that builds a church and sustains the church. And we need to be able to be able to

build a church and sustain the church. And we need more and more of it here at Oak Hill. Amen?

So I'll close with this. Let's talk practically. What does this mean for me

and for my fellow older gentlemen in the church? Well, let's go back to the Bible. Let me give you

a couple of important passages. Proverbs 16-31. A gray head is a crown of glory.

But look, how is it found in the ways of righteousness?

I mean, just having gray hair is actually not great.

But if that age, that gray hair is leading you into the ways of righteousness, it's of great value

to Christ and to his church. Proverbs 20-29. The glory of young men, young guys, is your strength.

And the honor of old men is their gray hair. Honor. Honor. How about a couple of Psalms?

Psalm 92. This is great. The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God. And look at this last

statement. They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green. If you're planted in the courts

of God, you will continue to produce spiritual fruit right to the end. And then the Psalm we read

is our call to worship earlier. Psalm 90-12. Teach us to number our days that we may present to you

a heart of wisdom. So guys, this is our calling, right? Not to stubbornness, not to bitterness,

not to withdrawal, not to retirement. God wants you and I to keep on bearing spiritual fruit. Keep

learning. Keep growing. And yes, even as an old man, keep maturing in your faith. And to do that,

we can't check out. We can't check out. In fact, we have to do the opposite. We have to dig in.

And we have to number each and every day that God gives us. Every day is a gift. Number your days

while you're on this side of heaven. See every opportunity to serve and to love before that

glorious day that he calls us home. And I can't wait for that. But until then, every single day

matters. Number it. Find your purpose and dig in. Amen? Can't just sit around waiting for heaven.

I mean, I know it's going to be amazing, but we can't just sit around. We've got work to do.

This is supposed to be the crowning time of your life. So embrace the challenges in this season.

Grow old in a productive way. Yeah, you know, one of the great truths, and we'll probably pick up on

it in a couple of weeks, is that younger people, they've got more energy than you, but they're

really busy. They've got kids and they're building, they're doing all these things. Old guys, we've

got time. We've got more free time. So use it. Use it productively. Now it's going to look a little

bit different for each one of the old guys based on who we are, our gifts and our skills and our

personalities, but we've got to be about mentoring and discipling younger men. Showing them what a

godly life looks like. Having conversations all the time. Showing them experience and wisdom to

help them get along. Encouraging them, exhorting them. Let the younger generation know that you're

for them. You're not the cranky old guy that's like, ah, you young whippersnappers.

I've been working on that. No, show them that you're for them. How can I come alongside you and

support you and love you? Because I'm gone soon, but you're going to be around, so I want to be a

help. Show them what a godly life looks like. Could there be a greater compliment to an older

man than to hear in his old age a young man walk up and go, you know, I've watched you,

and that's what I want to be like someday. That's what I want to be like someday.

Now I know that there's an objection to this, and I can almost hear it out of my head, but

I can almost hear it in my ears. You're like, Jeff, look, I see it in the scripture. I'm

convicted of this, but I'm older, and I just haven't been working on this. I'm not equipped

to do the things that you're talking about here, to which I respond, brother, it is never too late

to start. It is never too late to start. To start learning, to start growing, to start getting equipped

to be a discipler of others, and if you need help, we'll help you. If you're really convinced, like,

okay, I see it in the scripture, the spirit convicts me, I want to be more like this, reach out to an

elder, we'll sit down, buy me coffee. How many times do I say that? If you'll buy me coffee,

I'll tell you, no, I'll tell you anything you want to hear, no, I will, I will seriously, we'll talk

about what that looks like to become this type of older man, and then I'll just close with this.

If your other objection is, look, physically I can't do this, I'm just not in shape to do that,

you know what you can do? You can pray. You can be in your home, and you can be a prayer warrior,

right, for your family, for your church family, for the gospel to spread. You have the time,

but maybe not the body to do it, but you can pray. And as we strive after these things, guys,

you know what we should keep in mind? If you want an example, you want to see what's been modeled

for you, how about the apostle Paul himself? How did Paul go out from a Roman prison?

You talk about suffering, from a Roman prison, he writes to Timothy, a younger man that he has been

discipling and working with for all these years, what does he say to him? He says, look, my life's

about to be poured out, but he says this with a clean conscience, I have fought the good fight,

and I have run the course, and I have kept the faith. Isn't that what we all want to say

on the day that we pass? And so to the rest of you, to my fellow members who are younger,

can I ask this of you, please don't write off the older saints. That happens a lot in churches,

don't write off the older saints, you need us. We need each other in the body of Christ.

Older saints make the church a richer place. They have wisdom that they can pass along to you.

Follow their example. Thank the Lord for their precious lives. I'll close with this brief story.

This is a testimony that came from Pastor Ligon Duncan, who I enjoy reading. He wrote this in an

article some years ago. He said, my granddaddy, that's my southern voice, my granddaddy was a

Titus II kind of man, a Georgia dirt farmer raised by a harsh stepmother. He had a fifth grade

education, and yet he was without question one of the godliest men I've ever known.

Not well educated, afflicted with severe arthritis, and done wrong on more than one occasion because

of his trusting nature, he never lost faith in his Lord. And he never questioned the plans and the

workings of God in his life. He lived simply on a day-to-day basis, trusting in Christ. He said,

an example any mother or father could have pointed to and said to their son, I hope you grow up someday

to be like Charles Galloway in the way that you love the Lord and serve other people. And that is

God's assignment for older men. Gentlemen, let's get to work on helping this local church

be a healthier body and a more beautiful bride for his glory. Amen. Let's bow our heads.

Father, thank you for the testimony that we have in Scripture of Paul's life and how he lived life

to the fullest, all the way to the end, all the way to a Roman prison, still working, still striving

to see the gospel spread all over the world, faithful to the very last moment. And I thank you

for that. I thank you for the testimony that we have in Scripture of Paul's life and how he lived

to the very last moment. Lord, we want to be men like this. I speak for myself. I speak for my

brothers who are older than 50 here in our body. We want to be more faithful men like that. Father,

thank you for this chapter in Titus that lays it out for us so practically. May we strive to be

these things, knowing that we can't do it ourselves, even if we're convinced this morning that this is

what we should be, that we don't just run out and try to do things, but we come to you and we say,

Spirit, I want to cooperate with the work that you want to do, the sanctifying work in me. And so I

submit myself to you. Will you make me this kind of man? That that might be a decision we make

even today. So Father, I thank you for the ears of those who are here who are not older men, but are

in other categories that they might hear and understand some of the struggles and the temptations

that us older men face and that you might use them to encourage us and to build into our lives so that

our church family becomes more and more united together as one. And of course, all of it's for

your glory, Lord. So we submit it to you and ask that you would continue to work by your spirit in

this body and that we might become a more and more beautiful bride. Thank you for this time this

morning. We praise you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.