The Culture of the Kingdom: Christlike Leadership | Titus 2:1-15

Would you pray with me?

Lord, would you speak through me now in the power of your Holy Spirit?

Or would you use the Word of God to change our lives and help us to be more like Christ?

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Well, I invite you to open your Bibles to the chapter we just read, to Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

We started a series last week called A Culture of the Kingdom.

That the church is supposed to be a microcosm of the kingdom of God here on earth, that the church is an embassy, so to speak, that reflects the lordship of Jesus Christ.

So if there's anywhere on earth that you are to go to experience the kingdom of God, it is to be to a healthy local church.

And that church is to express Christ's lordship as a kingdom culture.

What do we mean by the word culture?

Is that word found anywhere in Titus chapter 2?

Titus 2 · chapter mention

I don't see it in Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Why are we saying that it's a culture?

Chuck Coulson defined culture as the habits and dispositions of the people reflected by the cult.

The people.

In other words, you hear that word cult and the word culture.

It's the habits and dispositions of the people, of any organization or group or institution.

And what business leaders are discovering, you know, this is something that Paul's talking about 2,000 years ago, but what entrepreneurs and leaders, business leaders are discovering is that culture trumps everything else.

That you can have slogans, you can have processes, you can have procedures, you can have all sorts of sayings.

But what really makes a difference in any family, in any institution, in any school of higher education or business is the culture that is established.

And what you find is that culture impacts people more than everything else.

When I was a college student, I went to this place on the Brazos River called Texas AM University, where they have the famous cadet corps at Texas AM.

General Patton said, Give me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle.

Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win a war.

That's the type of spirit that you find at Texas AM.

If you want to know what the people of Texas AM are like, just imagine the entire university being populated with people like Jim Branch.

You're talking about big personalities.

And I remember this date stands out in my mind, August 24th, 2003.

That's the date that my parents dropped me off at Texas AM.

I was wearing my Birkenstock sandals and a cowboy hat.

And by the end of the day, I no longer was Grant Castleberry.

I was Fish Castleberry.

All the freshmen do not have first names.

They're simply called Fish and then your last name.

And I learned that day that I could only respond to any question, any question whatsoever, with four answers.

Sir, yes, sir.

Sir, no, sir.

Sir, no excuse, sir.

Sir, not being informed of the highest degree of accuracy, I hesitate to articulate for fear that I might deviate from the true course of rectitude.

In short, sir, I'm a very dumb fish and do not know, sir.

Those were the four answers that we were permitted to give to any question.

And you say, you know, this sounds very silly.

But what they were teaching us is that before you could lead, you had to learn to follow.

That you needed to humble yourself, take off your cowboy hat and your Birkin stocks and dress in the right attire and all these things.

And they taught us these virtues of humility and integrity and honor.

Every first Tuesday night of the month, they have a tradition called silver taps, where if any student died, the present student died the previous month, there would be taps played at 10:30 PM at the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, who had been the first president of Tech CM, and taps would be played, and then all the students would gather there and we'd all walk back to our dorm in complete silence.

So it's this culture, it was an amazing culture that we were put into.

And that culture is what shaped the people at Tech C M.

Now, as great as that culture is, and you find various cultures like that, uh, they're only as great really as they're shaped by the gospel.

You know, the the things that we talked about, integrity and honor, and courage and humility, things like that, uh the rules of Christ that you see emanate from the gospel have permeated so many American colleges and institutions and even our government.

But yet no culture, no culture compares to what you should find in the church, which is permeated by grace, the gospel of grace.

And by the way, I must say this morning: the only way into this culture, you can't just show up at church and enter into this culture.

This culture must be entered into by divine grace through the gospel.

Notice what Paul says.

This is an amazing statement in verse 11.

For the grace of God, the caress of God, has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.

Look at this.

Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

So the grace of God, which comes to each of us through the gospel.

What's the gospel?

It's the good news, Paul said, that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came in this world to live and to die in our place for our sins, and because he was perfect, he rose again from the dead.

And all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ will be saved.

And it is through that faith in Jesus Christ that you enter into the narrow door of the gospel, into the culture of the kingdom of God.

Now, as part of this culture, are we to be like the evil world around us?

No, we're not.

In Chuck Coulson's last interview before he died, he said the problem with the church is that we're worldly, not just in our actions, but in our thinking.

He said 61% of the culture believes that truth is relative.

That's a claim of postmodernism.

He said in the evangelical church, it's 53%.

See, the problem with the evangelical church is that we think like the world.

But rather we are to be the counter-culture.

Remember what Jesus said: you are to be the salt of the earth, a light on a hill that cannot be hidden.

We are the counterculture.

We are the true culture of the king.

And we're not to keep our light hidden.

We're not to be a holy huddle.

But this culture of the kingdom of God is to impact everything in the world.

We're to go out from here in every other institution, in the halls of government, in our businesses, and in the state, and we're to make a difference for Christ as part of this kingdom culture.

So it begins with the gospel of grace, and then it changes everything.

Notice Paul says, look at it, look at verse 12 of Titus 1.

He says, this was the culture of Crete.

He says, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

That's the Cretan culture.

We're to be different.

We're to be the counter culture.

Well, there's four artifacts, and we did a summary of these last week, but there's four artifacts of the kingdom culture that Paul highlights for us in Titus chapter two.

One is leadership, Christ-like leadership.

Two are Christ-like people.

People displaying Christ-likeness, and he goes through older men, older women, younger women, younger men, bondservants, those who work for others.

There is to be Christ-like training.

The older women are to teach and train the younger women, the older men to teach and train the younger men.

Titus to be training all of them according to the word of God.

There should be a culture of training within the church.

And then the jet fuel of all of the culture, and we have to understand this, is the grace of God.

We are nothing without the grace of God.

Jesus Christ builds the church.

Yes, we labor, we pray, we preach, we spread the gospel, we we serve in the community, but without the grace and the power of God in the in the person of the Holy Spirit, we are nothing.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

So the grace of God has appeared, training us to renounce ungodliness, worldliness, and to live godly lives in this present evil age.

So this morning we're going to look at the first artifact, which is Christ-like leadership.

What does Christ-like leadership in the church look like?

So important because leadership sets the culture.

So the leaders have to set the stage, the thermostat, if you will, of what the culture is in the church.

I want you to notice the primacy that Paul places on leadership in Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Look at verse 1.

But as for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Look at verse 7.

He again goes to Titus in the middle.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

And then verse 15 declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you.

It's literally a leadership Big Mac sandwich.

So you have leadership in the beginning, leadership in the middle, and leadership at the end.

That's the importance that Paul is placing on leadership.

And if you look at those three verses, or excuse me, four verses where Paul's referencing leadership, there's two observations that we can quickly make.

First, very important.

Titus's leadership is a word-based leadership.

It is based on the word of God.

It is to lead according to the word of God and moreover with the word of God.

He is, as we say, with our staff, a truth herald.

Notice these phrases.

Verse one, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Verse seven, in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech.

Verse 15, declare these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

His leadership is to be based in the word.

Is that his word?

No, it is the word that is handed down from Christ and the apostles.

Jot down to Timothy 2.2.

Paul told Timothy, What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, and trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

So it's apostolic doctrine, no more, no less.

So that's the first observation.

Second observation is that Titus's life is to be a model of the Word of God.

Verse 7, look at verse 7.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works.

Let no one disregard you.

What Paul is saying is that Titus is to be a living embodiment of the message that he speaks.

Paul told Timothy, 1 Timothy 4 12, let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct in love in faith and in purity.

So leadership in the church is a two-prong approach.

Two-prong approach.

It is to teach sound doctrine and then to be an example of living sound doctrine.

It is a teaching and a life that models the teaching.

It is sound doctrine and sound devotion, godly preaching and godly living.

The cross-reference to this verse is 1 Timothy 4 12, excuse me, 4.16.

Paul told Timothy, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

So watch your life, watch your doctrine.

Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

So godly leadership is to be a leadership of the Word of God.

It's not platitudes, it's not being a life coach, it's not trying to entertain people, it's not even necessarily to be people's friends, though, of course, we want to have the friendship that we we share in Christ, but it is to be a word-based leadership.

That is the authority of any pastor, any evangelist.

We have no authority outside the word of God.

If any pastor tells you to do something that's contrary to the word, he stands on faulty authority.

Let no one tell you something that does not have chapter and verse.

But moreover, the man of God is to be an embodiment of the word of God.

So that there's no incongruency with his message and his life.

If there's incongruency, what do people think?

And by the way, have we all seen incongruency in religious leaders?

It's a terrible thing when you see someone commit heinous sin that we've looked up to.

Because now, especially in immature Christians, a seed of doubt is planted in the mind.

Is the truth that that person was saying, is it valid and legitimate?

That's how Satan works.

That's how Satan begins to undermine the doctrine.

But on the flip side, when there is someone who embodies the truth, it creates a very powerful ministry.

Have you ever heard of the name John Knox?

John Knox was the great Scottish reformer.

He studied in Geneva with Calvin and he came back to Scotland and he was a roaring preacher.

He was a great scholar of the original languages.

But most importantly, he was a man of Christ who embodied Christ's likeness.

And Mary, Queen of Scots, said this about John Knox.

She said, I fear the prayers of that holy man more than all the armies of Europe.

Because his life matched his teaching.

So that's the idea.

That's the general flavor of what Paul is saying.

So here's the thesis that I'm going to give to you regarding the task that Paul is giving Timotus about Christian leadership.

Here's the thesis.

The thesis is that the primary way of leading is by preaching the word of God.

The primary way of leading is by preaching the word of God.

I know that's a mouthful, but what I want to do is I want to argue that thesis from verse one, and then I want to give you three applications quickly from verses seven, eight, and fifteen.

So here's the argument for the thesis that the primary way of leading is by preaching the word of God.

So verse one, let's look at this.

It's very simple.

But Paul singles out Titus in the letter.

What's interesting about that is that Titus would be reading this letter to all the various churches on the island of Crete.

So in reading this to the churches, now all the people are hearing from Paul what he wants Titus to do.

So now the people have insight into Titus's objectives.

And you notice the contrast, circle or underline that word but.

Whenever you see a word but, uh, it's the little conjunction day, D E, uh, it's it's signaling regarding a contrast with something before it.

What's the contrast with something before it?

Well, if you look back at Titus 1, how did he close Titus 1?

He was talking about false teachers.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

So now he's making a contrast with Titus.

He's saying, you are not like to be like those false teachers.

Rather, you are to teach sound doctrine, you are to be the embodiment of sound doctrine, you are to exhort people to obey sound doctrine.

We've looked at this word, or excuse me, this phrase sound doctrine fairly extensively in the past few weeks.

It's an interesting phrase.

Huguino didascalia.

And I give you the Greek words because didactic, our English word for teaching, comes directly from didascalia, and huguino is where we get our English word hygiene, which means healthy.

So you have healthy teaching.

Sound doctrine inevitably leads to sound living.

So important to understand this.

We can't go around this.

Sound doctrine leads to a flourishing, godly Christian life.

Now, notice what the imperative is that Paul gives to Titus.

Teach.

It's an imperative, it's a command.

As for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

So this is an important phrase to notice.

Is Paul just telling Titus to teach sound doctrine?

Is he just saying, teach the sound doctrine, and that's it?

No, he says, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

What is fitting that goes with sound doctrine?

That's the emphasis of the word.

Teach what should accompany sound doctrine.

If you eat barbecue, what should accompany barbecue?

Some coleslaw and sweet tea.

My kids are listening to Alabama.

You know the old band, the country group Alabama?

They have a song.

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band.

The fiddle should accompany the music when you're in Texas.

I don't know what the North Carolina equivalent is.

When you're in the mountains, you should be listening to James Taylor or something, right?

So there should be things that are fitting with other things.

And what Paul is saying to Titus is that there should be, if you're teaching sound doctrine, there should be sound living that accompanies it.

That's what he's saying.

And you are to demand to the people that they conform their lives to that type of living.

And if you look at the rest of the chapter, that's really what he's saying.

So if you look at verse 2, look, he says older men are to be self-sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, so on and so forth.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good, train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Verse 6, likewise urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

Verse 9, bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters and everything.

They are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, so on and so forth.

The point being is that that type of living should accompany that type of doctrine.

So Titus is given this imperative.

Teach what is in accord with the sound doctrine.

And that's a fancy way of saying preach the word.

The difference between preaching and teaching is that teaching, you are giving the truth.

And you begin to preach when you exhort people to obey it.

That's the difference.

And really, all great teachers, like if you looked at R.

C.

Sproul, he'd be teaching, and then what would he start doing?

He'd start preaching.

We should start obeying this.

And then all preaching should involve teaching because you can't exhort for people to obey something that they don't know.

So all good preaching should involve teaching.

All good teaching necessarily should lead to preaching, but preaching is the exhortation of the people of God to obey the word of God for the glory of God.

Somebody said, I know when the preacher begins to preach because he begins to no longer teach and he begins to meddle.

He begins to meddle with my life.

And oftentimes what the Holy Spirit is doing, because all sanctification that really happens in the moment of preaching happens as the Holy Spirit is taking the word of God and like a sword, he's convicting and he's cutting in your soul.

He's encouraging you where you need to be encouraged, but he's also convicting you of sin and he's prompting you to repent.

Do we all need to repent of various things?

Yes.

If we say we are without sin, we make ourselves a liar and the truth is not in us.

So we all sin in many ways.

We all have to walk in repentance, and God brings the word of God to us in order to convict us so that we would repent and be more like Christ.

I want to show you the urgency of this.

I want you to flip over to the left to 2 Timothy 4.

This is Paul's final charge to Timothy.

Notice how galvanizing this is.

This imperative to preach.

And by his appearing in his kingdom, he's talking about when Jesus returns, he's going to judge the living and the dead.

He says, by that Christ, I charge you, verse 2, preach the word, herald the word, apply the word, be ready in season and out of season.

What does it mean to preach?

Notice he says, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

Same word, Hugano, Didascalia, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

So if you turn back to Titus, I wanted you to see the primacy and the importance of preaching the word that godly leaders are to practice.

I looked through various preachers through church history this week, and I just wanted to give you a few quotes from the past.

This is James Stalker.

Preaching is the central thing in our work.

I believe in it because Christ himself set his stamp on it.

Read his sayings, and you will see that this was what he sent forth the servants of his kingdom to do.

Christ says Paul sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

Not, I think, thereby ignoring baptism, but putting it and all other ceremonies in their proper place of subordination to the preaching of the word.

Mark Dever says this the first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching.

It is not only the first mark, it is far and away the most important of them, all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow.

My main role and the main role of any pastor is expositional preaching.

John Broadis, who was one of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention and the founder of one of the four founders of Southern Seminary, where I went to school, said this over a hundred years ago, 150 years ago.

Preaching is characteristic of Christianity.

No false religion has ever provided for the regular and frequent assembling of the masses of men to hear religious instruction and exhortation.

The great appointed means of spreading the good tidings of salvation through Christ is preaching, word spoken, whether to the individual or to the assembly.

And this, listen, he says, nothing can supersede.

Printing can never take the place of the living word.

When a man who is apt in teaching, whose soul is on fire with the truth which he trusts has saved him and hopes will save others, speaks to his fellow men face to face, eye to eye, and electric sympathies flash to and fro between him and his hears, till they lift each other up higher and higher into the intensest thought in the most impassioned emotion, higher and yet higher, till they are born as on chariots of fire above the world.

There is a power to move men to influence character, life, destiny, such as no printed page can possess.

One more.

Alistair Begg and Derek Prime, who's now with the Lord, said a shepherd's priority is to lead his flock into green pastures, and that is his principal task in handling the scriptures.

He is to enlarge the flock's understanding of the faith so that they may render better obedience to Christ, as they are properly fed, they will be strong in the Lord and the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

I give you all those quotes so that you can understand that what Paul is saying here has been universally taught in the healthy Orthodox Christian church for the past 2,000 years.

When preaching begins to be diminished in the life of the church, then the life of the church will be diminished.

The church rises and falls with the preaching of the word of God.

Now, of course, the health of the church, as we're going to be studying, is much more than preaching.

But it's not less.

To effectively preach the word of God, he tells Titus that the pastor's life must mirror the word.

Look down at verse 7.

We looked at this earlier, but notice this again.

He is to be essentially a type that you look at and see.

If you've ever, when we go to the lake, we normally do puzzles.

When you get out the puzzle, what do you do?

You put the you put the box there.

You hold up the box so that you can see what the picture looks like.

You can see what you're going for.

And Paul is telling Titus, your life should be a type, a model of the good works that are to be displayed in the body of the church.

The boys and I were watching a video on YouTube a couple weeks ago trying to teach them how to shoot properly, and we found a video of Steve Nash.

Anybody remember Steve Nash, played for the Phoenix Suns, two-time MVP, and he was doing uh he was working with a with another NBA player and he was just showing them various moves and talking to them about shooting and form.

And the amazing thing is as he was as he was shooting, he would shoot the ball, and the ball never hit the rim.

Every time it was just right through the net, right through the net, right through the net.

So as he's teaching, he's modeling, he's showing it.

As we said last week, Christianity is not just taught, it's caught.

That's why this is so important for all of us as a congregation.

Because if we are to build this kingdom culture by Christ's grace, it has to be modeled not only by myself and the elders and the pastors, but by all of us.

You have to model Christ's likeness.

And parents, I must say, you can tell your children, obey this, do that, don't do this.

But what do you think is the primary way of teaching them?

Answer your life.

They're watching us.

And what we do, they will do.

It's our example.

And so Paul is telling Titus, you have to have this example.

And by the way, ladies, I was trying to think of an example for for ladies.

Uh Stofer, you know, Stofer, she does a model home.

And people go and see the model home.

And it's like, this is the this is the model of what we want to build our home like.

There's an example for you ladies, okay?

So Titus is to be this model, and and by the way, that's why James says, James 3, 1, he says, let not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment, because there is a high responsibility for those in leadership.

So that's the first application.

The pastor's life must mirror the word.

Second, the pastor's speech must be sound.

Look back at verse 7.

In your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

So notice he says there must be integrity.

That means that there, that the what you speak matches what is found in the Word of God.

There must be dignity that it should be an elegantly wonderful language and sound speech.

It must be that healthy speech that is in accordance with the word of God.

I looked at J.B.

Phillips.

J.B.

Phillips paraphrased verses seven and eight like this.

He says, In all your teaching, show the strictest regard for truth, and show that you appreciate the seriousness of the matters you are dealing with.

Your speech should be unaffected and logical, so that your opponent may feel ashamed at finding nothing in which to pick holes.

Thought that was pretty good.

So negatively, what he's saying is that in the Christ-like leader, there should be no crassness, should be no cussing.

Have you seen preachers do this?

They curse and say things for shock value.

No, no, no, no, no.

Paul's saying, don't do that.

No crude humor, no shock jock language.

And by the way, what is even more pervasive?

No frivolity.

So much of what passes for preaching today is just frivolousness, just silly.

And there should we're talking about the eternal kingdom of God and the glory of the gospel.

There should be a gravity that accompanies these things, is what Paul is saying.

There should be a sweetness and a decorum and a joy in the heralding of the word of God.

I looked at the uh the Westminster larger confession this week, and there's a question, question 159.

How is the word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?

Answer, they are called to labor in the ministry of the word, they are to preach sound doctrine diligently, in season and out of season, plainly, not in enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, faithfully making known the whole counsel of God, wisely applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers, zealously and fervent love to God and the souls of his people, sincerely aiming at his glory and their conversion, edification, and salvation.

Did you hear that word zealous?

There should be a fervency in preaching the word of God.

I think with the influence of TED talks and things like that, so much of preaching is just a more casual conversation.

And it's even presented as such.

We've got rid of pulpits and people now have tables.

And maybe we're even sitting down at the table.

But the idea is we're simply having a conversation together.

It's not in any way pervasive to your life.

It's not in any way authoritative.

It's simply a conversation.

Is that what's supposed to be taking place in preaching?

No.

Look at the third exhortation, the third piece of advice Paul gives to Timothy, Titus, excuse me.

Why do I keep saying Timothy?

He says, the pastor's speech must be authoritative.

Look at verse 15.

Declare these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

Is that some authority?

No, with all authority.

How dare you, Titus?

How do you speak with all authority?

Answer, because it's the word of Christ.

If it was merely Titus's opinions, he would not have any grounds to stand on.

But what is he to preach with all authority?

The word given by Christ and the apostles, which is the inspired word of God.

So he says, declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority.

In other words, there should be a sense of gravitas and seriousness to this task.

Isn't that what Paul's saying?

That it's not just coming out and telling jokes and trying to give some sort of self-help motivation.

Look at these verbs.

Exhort.

Pericaleo.

Come along.

I'm calling you to this.

I'm calling you to obedience.

Come on, let's go.

Rebuke.

He's saying sometimes there needs to be the conviction of sin.

Hey, we need to do better in this.

We're falling short of the expectation that Christ has.

And we need to repent and we need to come back to this standard.

Is that popular?

Is that popular with Americans who vote with their No, this is not popular.

That's why Paul told Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season.

But this is what God has ordained in order to set the culture, to establish the church, is this preaching.

It's a serious task that none of us should take lightly.

I should not take it lightly.

You should not take it lightly.

We come to the church to hear a word from God.

He said, the preacher must be a serious man.

He must never give the impression that preaching is something light or superficial or trivial.

End quote.

I was talking to Derek Thomas, the Welsh preacher.

By the way, he's coming here on July 5th to preach.

Derek Thomas, July 5th.

Mark that down.

But Derek Thomas was at Westminster Chapel under the preaching of Lloyd Jones, and I asked him, I said, what was that like to be under the doctor's preaching?

And I'm not going to try and imitate his Welsh accent, you'll hear it, but he said, I was transfixed in the pew.

It was like I could not move.

Such was the gravity of what Lloyd Jones was talking about because he spoke of the realities of the gospel as they are true, as they really are.

And the message moved along and then built and it built and it built.

And in the end, there was this crescendo of the glory of God.

And then he would pray and walk off.

And everybody just sat there as if they We're waiting for Jesus to return.

That's preaching.

And it involves a gravity to it.

And in a culture that wants to be entertained, I think we can help build this culture by coming to the church, expecting to hear a word from the Lord and for the Holy Spirit to do a work.

Are you praying in the morning?

God, the Holy Spirit, do a work in my heart.

Are you praying for whoever is going to preach the word, either myself or one of the other pastors, that the Holy Spirit would preach through them to the people?

Let me give you some applications in how we can build a culture of the Word of God.

First, bring your Bibles to church.

I know that's very simple, but it's a good first step.

Bring your Bibles to church and expect to hear an expository message.

One of the sweetest sounds during the sermon, you know what it is?

Is hearing you flip the pages in your Bible.

That lets me know that you're with me.

Earlier when I said turn over the page, oh man, it was sweet.

Everybody turn the page.

Go over to 2 Timothy 4.

So bring your Bible, expect to hear an expository message.

Two, very important.

Be willing to follow your leaders as much as you can under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And that shorthand for submitting to the word of God.

What does it matter if you come and hear a message and you walk away and say, that was a nice message?

What does that matter?

Seriously.

What does it matter if we're not growing in the grace and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ?

It's all for nothing.

So that's why James says, do not be merely hearers of the word, but be doers of the word.

So you should be leaving every Sunday.

What am I going to put into practice from this?

What have I learned that I need to apply?

How do I need to be encouraged?

Third, the culture of the word is a culture of obedience.

We must be humble people that obey the word of God.

Do you believe in the power and efficacy of the Word of God?

That is the starting point of this kingdom culture, is that we believe in the Word.

If we do not believe in the power of the Holy Spirit-inspired word, forget it.

Seriously.

Forget it.

We're just playing church.

This is powerful.

And it's been vindicated by Christ.

It's been vindicated by the Holy Spirit in history.

This has started reformations and revivals.

This is powerful.

And it's all we need.

That's why we have a pulpit right here and we put the Bible on it.

It's the center of our life and the center of our worship.

I'm going to close with a quote from Luther.

Luther said this what is Martin Luther?

The teaching is not mine, nor was I, Luther, crucified for anyone.

How did I, a poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people all over Christendom know my evil name?

He says, I simply taught, preached, wrote God's word.

Otherwise I did nothing.

And while I slept or drank Vindenburg beer with my friends Philip of Amstorf, the word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.

I did nothing.

The word did everything.

That's it.

The word does the work.

Christian leaders of the word, people of the word.

Amen.

Lord, may we be those types of leaders, that type of church where the word of God does the work of God.

Lord, may I be the type of preacher that heralds the word of God come hell or high water.

May all of our pastors be those types of preachers.

May all of our teachers be those types of teachers that not only teach, but they begin to meddle.

They begin to herald your word so that people are inclined to obey it.

Lord, may the work of the word have its work in our hearts and in our minds.

May we be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the word.

May our lives be in accord with the word of God.

May we display the virtues that you command us to in Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

And Lord, we pray for the work of the King's Chapel.

This is a work in progress.

It's a work of the Word.

And it's a work that takes place in our hearts and in our minds.

So, Lord, do this work.

We know that we are powerless in and of ourselves to do it.

We pray that the word would bear fruit in our lives, that the word would go out forth from here in evangelism as people make disciples, that the word of God would do the work.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.