Praise the lord.
Bible- 1 Timothy 4:12
Titus 2:1-15.
Title- Pure and Holy Conduct.
Praise the Lord everyone. You are all welcome today. I believe that you are and must be well in your respective place. God cares for us and guides us. He makes us civilized and gives us such education that we are going may improve our personal life. The Bible teaches us that believers should be civilized, our conduct should be pure and holy. Because it is pleasing to God and good conduct pleases God.
We heard from Brother Jatin last Sunday that Paul was encouraging Timothy to be an example. Paul wants Timothy to make his life a role model life so that he can be an example to the church. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul says to be a model for believers in word, conduct, love, faith and holiness so that no one despises his youth.
Timothy is a young boy and Paul wants him to solidify his life so that he becomes a role model in front of people and people may not ignore him because of his young age.
Young boys and girls many times face such situations when people do not give them importance. Do not take their views and advice.
Do not give them much responsibility. Even if they give, they remain in doubt that how they will be able to fulfill it. They are disqualified many times. There are two reasons for this "the first is young age" and "the second is young things, thinking, behavior and attitude". Young boys and girls keep themselves in front of the people without change. They does not bring any changes in themselves. Due to which they are disqualified for many things. That's why Paul advises Timothy to bring a change in his life so that people will pay attention to him and see the change in his life. And make him their ideal. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul urges not to make yourself like this world, but to change your conduct.
Paul wrote some of the letters and he also wrote a letter to Titus. Titus was also a young man and was left by Paul in the city of Crete to reform and appoint innocent people to the ministry (1:5). Paul teaches Titus that your teachings must be true. Be it for a person of any age. Speak and learn with full authority so that no one feels despised 2:15).
In this chapter Titus is explaining to 5 types of people.
1- Old man.
2- Old lady.
3- Young man.
4- Young lady.
5- slaves.
Although there are no older people in our church, we will still see what the Word of God has to say for older men. Because I understand that when people get old, then they come forward to teach young people and other category of people through their experience, they are an example for people. So that is why it is important that we pay attention in our personal life that how we are living our life. If old people have not adopted good conduct in their life, then other people will not respect them, will not take their advice and will completely reject them. Therefore, I urge all of you to adopt good conduct, behavior and good conduct in your present days. So that when you are mature in your days, people will listen to you and take your advice and respect you.
There are no old people in our church but there are some brothers and sisters who are a little older in age, they are taking experiences because of their growing age. Being older, they are also teaching their younger brother and sisters. This is a good thing but it is very important for us elder brothers and sisters that before teaching we are the ones who bring change in our life because the learner pays attention to your words only when they can see the change in your own life. And those who are younger brothers and sisters, do not keep yourself away from today's message because you are also growing in your age. Fully accept today.
Although this chapter has been written to give good education and to teach others, but when you think about it carefully you will see that this chapter is asking to change your own life before teaching. This message is for Titus to teach and to learn as well as Titus himself.
Many times it is seen that when we learn something new in our life or we come to know something new, then we bring it in front of the people, we distribute it to the people very beautifully. We take pride that we can be the ones to bring something new to the people. We want to teach people many times so that our name would get exalted in front of the people. But you should note that the word of God is for your life before teaching it to others. Before teaching the word of God it is there to change your life.
That is why there is a need to change yourself on the basis of the words of God. In verse 2, Titus is exhorting older people to be alert, serious, and self-control, and that their faith, love, and patience are strong.
As we all know that there are no older people in our church but we all need to be alert, serious and sober.
All of us brothers and sisters should have three types of qualities.
1 Alert - Always be aware of your responsibility. Never be careless. Be the one to do your work on time. Be ready for any situation. And always be aware of the tricks of the devil because our enemy is always in search of whom to destroy. Hence there is a need to always be alert and awake.
Do you remember when Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus' disciples were with him? Jesus inspired them to be spiritually awake. Similarly, we people also need to be alert and awake.
2. Serious - We need to be serious in our life. Being serious shows that you are maturing in your life. Being serious does not mean that you should remove the laughing jokes from your life. Being serious means that you show caution in situations. You act in a proper manner in the circumstances. You should not only stay in humorous posts, but work with your understanding. Many times we are serious about the world, but more than getting serious about the world, we need to be more serious about God and his kingdom (Colossians 3:1-4).
3 Self control - Having self-control is very important in the life of all of us. A person who has restraint controls his self. With restraint, you will be able to restrain yourself from the things that your cravings inspire you to do. If you bring restraint in your conduct, then we will also be saved from evil. Titus 2:12 states that the word of God warns us to turn away from ungodliness and from worldly lusts and lead a life of self-control and righteousness. Solomon's Proverbs 25:28 states that the one whose spirit is not in control is like a city whose walls have been besieged and destroyed. Through moderation we can control our self.
Along with this, faith, love and patience should be firm.
Faith - Must be firm in Jesus. Not those who go astray, but those who see Jesus in everything, are not those who work with their wisdom, but those who work by the teaching that we have received from Jesus. Your faith in Jesus is what gives you victory from this world 1 John 5:4-5.
Love - You are the one who loves people. We are going to do to the people as Jesus did. Don't put love only in words, but you should also help people. Jesus not only kept his love to words but also helped us. Reunited us with God the Father, restored the relationship of mankind that had been broken with God. Jesus gave his life for us John 15:12-17 Jesus commanded us that we should love one another, so hold on to the love.
Patience - Christians should also be patient in their lives. Patience is one of God's qualities.
God was patient by which the Israelites were able to reach the land of Canaan. God endured and gave the people of Nineveh 40 days to repent and the people repented and God changed his will (Jonah 3:4-5, 10) This quality of endurance is present in us humans. This quality of patience should be in us also because by this quality we get blessings in our personal life and also become a source of blessings for the lives of others. Do you remember the troubles Job faced. He also suffered scorn from his friends but still he held on to patience. And with patience, Job could again be the recipient of blessings in his life. It was because of his patient nature that even his friends could be forgiven by God (Job 42).
By being patient, you make your life stronger. The person who loses patience in his life does not remain stable in troubles. Because without patience, you cannot bring your intelligence to work, due to which you get stuck in the problem. James 1:4 tells us to let patience do all its work so that you may be perfect, and you may not lack anything. By being patient, you become strong in many things.
When we bring these things in our life, then we are going to give a new look to our life, leaving the old things, we become new. We leave the bad conduct we were in before Christ, because 2 Corinthians 5:17 states that we are a new creation. Therefore, let go of the old humanity and make new ones.
Amen.