The Local Christendom Podcast With Aaron Ventura podcast

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: Young Men & Servants (Titus 2:6-10) 35:01

منذ 14 يومًا35:01

35:01

Young Men & Servants Sunday, October 19th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 2:6-1 0 Prayer O Father, we hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do we love. Before You afflicted us we went astray, but now being corrected by Your discipline, we do keep Your word with a whole heart. So teach us now Thy statutes, Thy testimonies, which are our delight. Through Christ Jesus our Lord who reigns together with the Holy Spirit, One God, world without end, Amen. Introduction In our Lord’s famous Sermon on the Mount, he warns in Matthew 7 about the danger of judging the sins of others. He says in Matthew 7:1-2 , Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And then he goes on to tell us that the only way to judge your brother rightly, is by first seeing yourself rightly, and that requires looking into the mirror of God’s law, judging yourself strictly and honestly by that law, and then repenting of whatever sins you have committed against that law. Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 7:3-5 , And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. So according to Jesus, there is a right order in which judgments should be rendered. First, we must judge ourselves and remove the sins that obscure our vision (the planks), and only then can we see clearly to help someone else with their lesser sins (the specks). Now what Paul has been doing here in Titus chapter 2, is telling all the different classes of people in the church, where they ought to look first to find and remove the planks in their eye. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has been listing the common virtues we ought to pursue, the common vices we ought to avoid, and pointing out the unique tendencies and temptations of older men, older women, younger women, and now this morning younger men and servants. And so we can consider this chapter as a kind of checklist for our own self-examination, and a pointer to help us do what that great sentence in the Westminster Confession of Faith declares, “Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavor to repent of his particular sins particularly” (WCF 15.5). What Titus 2 is all about is giving us a starting point to find our particular sins , not to condemn us, but so that we can be set free from our favorite shackles and chains and prison cells, so that we can confess our sins to God, and then be able to see God and our neighbor more clearly. Remember how Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount. He starts by telling us what a life of beatitude in a fallen world consists of. He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. ( Matt 5:3-8 ). The person who wants to see God, has to start by seeing the real ugliness of their own sin. For only then can we begin to appreciate that God came down in Christ to die for our sins, to save us from our sins. And only then can we move from pursuing what is right, not as slaves from the fear of punishment, but as sons of God and from love for our savior. This is what Paul means when he says in Titus 2:10 that the whole underlying rational for our repentance, and our good works, and our pursuit of virtue is so: that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. So does your life bring glory and honor to Christ, or does it give the world cause to blaspheme and reproach Him? Through this letter, Paul has been flagging and tagging different parts, groups, and members of the body, and this morning he continues his diagnostic with an exhortation to young men and to servants. Outline of the Text Our text divides into four basic sections, but only three of them will we treat this morning. In verse 6, Paul charges the young men to be sober minded. In verses 7-8, he charges Titus to be an example to the younger men. In verses 9-10, he charges servants to be obedient to their masters. And then in verses 11-15 which will be a future sermon, Paul extols the grace of God in Christ. Verse 6 – A Charge for Young Men 6Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. This virtue of sobriety (σωφρονέω) is a virtue that Paul assigns to every class of people in the church. Back in Titus 1:8 he made it a qualification for a bishop/elder. He assigned it the older men in Titus 2:2 , to the older women and younger women in Titus 2:4 and 2:5 , and now this is the one thing he charges the younger men to focus on: be sensible, be sober minded. We said that this Greek word σώφρων/σωφρονέω, can be translated many ways but it captures the idea of being thoughtful, self-controlled, prudent, discrete, and temperate. It is a moral virtue of the mind that governs and directs our thoughts, our words, our passions and actions. To be sober is to know what is right and pleasing in the eyes of God and then to subject your will and bodily appetites to God’s will. Now the sins that militate against this virtue are legion. But I will just highlight a few that tend to ensnare young men. It says in Proverbs 18:16 , Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. And in Romans 12:3 Paul contrasts the pride of conceit with sobriety saying, For I say…to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly. So young men, we all tend to think far too highly of ourselves, far too often of ourselves, and imagine that the world exists to serve us and our pleasures. We think too much about what other people owe us, and we tend to think too little and too lowly about others and what we owe them. This is the narcissism and conceit of immaturity, and we must all grow out of this. Pride is that great sin that blinds us (obscures our vision), and it is the first plank we ought to confess to God regularly, daily, frequently, and often. Underneath almost all other sins you can find this sin of having an inflated view of self, it is why we exaggerate the faults of others while minimizing our own. Pride avoids taking ownership, except when doing so will make us look good. And so heed the words of Jesus who said in Matthew 23:12 , Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; but he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. With humility is honor, and God promises in Psalm 138:6 , Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. Some of the other common sins that war against sobriety are: laziness, lack of diligence and follow through, procrastinating, complaining, making excuses when things are hard or are taking longer than we would like, being impulsive, being self-willed rather than seeking and heeding godly counsel. And on and on I could go. The book of Proverbs is really the handbook that young men should be keeping upon their chest. You ought to be reading Proverbs every day as a young man, because in it is all kinds of encouragement to build and channel your strengths, and all kinds of warnings and cautionary tales for what to avoid (foolish friends, liars, thieves, the easily angered, the seductive woman and more). It says in 1 John 2:14 , I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. So young men, you are the future, God made you strong and aggressive and powerful for a reason, because He wants you to lead. But you need the wisdom of God’s Word and godly examples to direct that strength for good and not evil. Consider a few examples: It says in Proverbs 28:20 , A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. So don’t gamble, don’t go to the casino, don’t bet on sports, or try any other get rich quick schemes. God will not bless it in the end. Instead find honest work that you can become excellent at. It says in Proverbs 12:24 says, The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: But the slothful shall be under tribute. And Proverbs 22:29 says, Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; He shall not stand before mean men. So young men, amongst whom I count myself, get wisdom from Proverbs, get wisdom from older godly men, for as God himself tells us in Proverbs 4:7 , Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting get understanding. It is this supernatural wisdom that teaches us to be sober.And it says in Proverbs 19:8 , He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: He that keepeth understanding shall find good. And in Psalm 34:12-14 it says, Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. This is the sober life that God blesses and rewards if you will patiently seek Him. This brings us to verses 7-8 where Paul charges Titus to be an example to the younger men. Proverbs is good, but we also need to see Proverbs enfleshed, incarnated, lived out, and this is where elders especially should be a good example to the young men. Verses 7-8 – A Charge for Titus to be an Example 7In all things shewing thyself a pattern ( type ) of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. So here Titus is charged to both live well and preach well. In living the elders ought to aspire to be examples of good works. And because doctrine/teaching is our most public work and duty, Paul says we need to especially take care that four things characterize our teaching. 1. First, our doctrine is to be without corruption. Meaning the content of what we preach is the pure and undefiled Word of God, and that not mixed with falsehood or mere opinion. 2. Second, that our teaching is with gravity. Meaning it is firm, weighty, reliable, immoveable. It says in 1 Peter 1:24-25 , For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So the Word is weighty in a world that is vain, and therefore our preaching and lives should reflect that weight of glory we proclaim. 3. Third, our teaching is to be with sincerity. Meaning we are honest, upright, without flattery or deceit. If God’s Word says it, we have to say it, even if you we know you don’t want to hear it. This is why Paul says in Galatians 1:10 , For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. God’s servants must be sincere. 4. Fourth, our doctrine is to be with sound speech that cannot be condemned. Meaning our preaching can be crosschecked and verified by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Moreover, we do our best to not give any unnecessary offense or intentionally try to scandalize our hearers. It says in Romans 1:16 , For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And so while we try to not offend anyone by our words or lives, we also recognize that truth is offensive to liars, light is offensive to the darkness. And so we want our light to shine brightly, in gravity, sincerity, and truth. And so that as Paul says in verse 8, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Our lives and doctrine should shame our adversaries. Verses 9-10 – A Charge to Servants 9Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; 10Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. In the original context, servants (δούλους) here almost certainly refers to what we would today call slaves , or bondservants , and these were often people who had no choice about who their master was, or where and how they earned their keep. And in some cases, they would never have an opportunity to be free, they were the lifelong property of their masters. Now it is one the great blessings and effects of the gospel that this kind of slavery is no longer prevalent in our land, but it can also dull the force and power of these exhortations if we forget the state of these slaves to whom Paul was writing. Paul is addressing people who for whatever reason (whether justly or unjustly) have little to no choice or opportunity to be their own master. Perhaps the closest modern equivalent would be the person who has no economic upward mobility, they are wage slaves, or debt slaves, or they are stuck in a dead-end job. Or perhaps you still owe years of service to the military or some corporation. Whatever the case, God has a special word to those who feel trapped at the bottom of the economic totem pole. And what is that word? He gives 3 specific exhortations: 1. Be obedient (or submissive) to your own master, and to please them well in all things. This means obeying cheerfully and promptly all their lawful commands, and the only exception is if they command you to sin. So yes, you must not obey if they tell you to lie, or steal, or do something dishonest, but that is because both you and they have a master above them, namely God to whom you both will give account. Paul repeats this command in Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22 saying, Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And again in 1 Timothy 6:1 he says, Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. Christian servants, Chistian employees, really should be the best workers. And this would especially stand out on the Island of Crete when Paul says that the culture there is that, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons ( Titus 1:12 ). What Paul wants is for all the Cretan masters to be forced to admit that “Christians are always truthful, honest, good, and hardworking.” Is that the reputation you are winning for Christ at your job? 2. The second exhortation is for servants to not talk back to their masters. This phrase, “not answering again” refers to that impulse of children and inferiors to want to argue with and contradict their superiors, rather than just silently doing what they are told. This is a long-lost virtue in our egalitarian age where we think every voice needs to be heard, every decision made by democratic committee. But that is not what Paul tells servants to do. He says don’t be that fool who always has some comment to make. It says in Ecclesiastes 5:3 , a fool’s voice is known by his many words. And in Proverbs 10:19 , In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. Don’t be the servant who tries to tell his master how to do his job. Don’t be the employee who imagines he could run the place better than the boss. Perhaps you could, maybe you can, but has God put you in that position? Consider the example of Jacob serving under Laban’s tyranny. God took care of Jacob and blessed him, while Laban was rebuked. Or consider the example of Joseph, who served well in Potiphar’s house, God took care of Joseph, and elevated him above Potiphar, but only after being tested, again and again. 3. Third and finally Paul says, not purloining (or pilfering), but rather shewing all good fidelity (trustworthiness). Purloining is what we would today call petty theft, or skimming off the top. The idea is that a person takes what their employer or master is unlikely to notice. And then he usually rationalizes or justifies that stealing as not really being stealing because the amount is trivial, or because the servant really deserves it. But this is that seemingly little sin, that like a small leak in a great ship can sink it. This sin and crime of pilfering is rampant in our world. Companies now have to just budget for all the petty thefts that they know will happen from their own employees. And because this crime is so common, it becomes easier and more tempting for Christians to do it, because everyone else is, and often without consequence. But of such behavior, Christians should have no part. And indeed, this is one of the easiest ways for a Christian to set themselves apart in this dishonest world, don’t pilfer, but show all good fidelity. See the good of your employer as if their good is your good. That’s what the golden rule commands of us, and that is also how faithful servants get promoted and elevated to high position. When you refuse that impulse to take advantage of what your employer can’t see, God who sees all, shall reward you openly. Sometimes in this life, but always in the next. Recall how Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 25. He says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. This life is like God giving different amounts of talents, position, and goods, to different people, and then going away to see what they will do with what He has given. To those who use and invest those talents well, he says, Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. But what does he say to the person who is unfaithful, who pilfers away the time and gains no profit for his master? It says in Matthew 25:26-29 , But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. This is a sober warning to all of us, whatever our state and position in life. All of us must give an account to God, for how we have stewarded the time he has given, the status he has given, the body and mind he has given, and opportunities and resources he has placed around us. What none of us are allowed to do is complain that he has five talents but I only have one. None of us are allowed to grumble that he or she came from money and good Christian family, and I came from poverty and a broken family. God knows, and God sees, and God shall judge and reward accordingly. Conclusion So by way of conclusion and example consider Christ. He is the eternal Son of God, perfect in wisdom and power and might. And yet he humbled himself to be born into a world that we ruined, ruined by our sin, our selfishness, our pride, and our conceit. And while He could have left us in our sins, and rendered to us the just punishment of eternal death, it says in Philippians 2:7 , He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And because of this, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. If God Himself came down to serve and save you, are you so proud that you cannot serve and be faithful to God, and to those He has placed above you? May God help us to adorn the doctrine of God our savior, with all meekness, humility, and submission, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 3 (Titus 2:5) 34:46

منذ 21 يومًا34:46

34:46

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

1
Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 2 (Titus 2:4-5) 34:46

منذ 5 weeks34:46

34:46

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

1
Sermon: Holy Women - Pt. 1 (Titus 2:3) 36:30

منذ 6 weeks36:30

36:30

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

1
Sermon: The Aged Men (Titus 2:1-2) 42:04

منذ 7 weeks42:04

42:04

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: Purity Cult (Titus 1:15) 44:19

منذ 8 weeks44:19

44:19

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: Liars, Evil Beasts, Slow Bellies (Titus 1:5-16) 52:33

منذ 9 weeks52:33

52:33

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 4 (Titus 1:5-14) 58:33

منذ 10 weeks58:33

58:33

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 3 (Titus 1:5-9) 54:47

منذ 11 weeks54:47

54:47

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

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 2 (Titus 1:5-9) 40:11

منذ 12 weeks40:11

40:11

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 2 Sunday, August 10th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 1:5-9 Prayer Father, we thank you for your Son Christ Jesus, our Chief Shepherd and the Supreme Bishop of our souls. Thank you for the example of Christ, through which we are taught how to pattern our own lives, so that we may arrive safely into the harbor of your heavenly kingdom. Help us now by your Holy Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last week we began our study of what a man must be if he desires the work of a bishop. Recall that the word bishop (ἐπίσκοπος) means literally to oversee , or to look out from above , andit is the duty of the presbyters/elders of the church to keep watch over God’s house, not as owners or lords of God’s heritage, but as stewards who set a good example for the flock ( 1 Pet 5:3 ). Paul describes what this spiritual authority ought to look like in 2 Corinthians 1:24 , Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand. He says likewise in Hebrews 13:7 , 17 , Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end [outcome] of their conversation… for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Notice that the relationship between the elders and the congregation, between shepherds and sheep, ought to be marked by joy. Our ministry to you should be a kind of cooperative effort to help you find your joy in God. Now ask yourself, what gets in the way of you finding your supreme joy in God? There are many temptations in this world, many counterfeit joys and attractions. There are also many trials and difficulties that assault us. And what all these diverse attacks upon your joy reduce to are two basic obstacles. There are: 1) your sins that kill your joy, and there are 2) your sufferings that obscure it. Shame and Pain. Guilt and Infirmity, these are the most common hindrances to us finding our joy in God. Therefore, our words to you should be most frequently calling you to repent of your individual particular sins, and then also comforting you with the blessed hope of God’s promises, the hope of eternal life. If your soul is never afflicted with conviction for your sins, either you, or us, or both of us, are doing something wrong. Our job is to speak the truth of God’s word to you from love, and your job is to receive that word of truth with faith and obey it. It is not much more complicated than that. Paul says, we are workers (co-laborers) with you for your joy, and it is only by faith in Christ that you stand. So what is our ambition and aspiration as elders, as bishops? It is to be able to say to you with a clean conscience, what Paul says to the Corinthians, Follow me, as I follow Christ. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ ( 1 Cor 11:1 ). And furthermore, woe to us, if we become as the scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus says in Matthew 23:3 , The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. So unlike the scribes and Pharisees who were hypocrites, we want our living to be in harmony with our speaking. Preaching is hard, but preaching is actually really easy compared to living up to what we preach. And therefore, we want to have high standards for ourselves, high standards for you, but that high standard must God’s standard, and we find that standard here in our sermon text. Context Now this morning as we focus our attention on verse 7, remember the context of this letter. Paul has left Titus in Crete to, “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city.” And he has set down 16 distinct qualifications by which every Christian ought to judge and examine himself or herself, and which Titus is to use a rubric/ questionnaire as he searches for qualified presbyters. The basic principle of church government is that if a man cannot govern his own passions and desires, and if a man cannot rule his own household well, then he is not qualified to rule and govern in Christ’s church. And so we find in this list of 16 qualifications, what is really the whole theme of this letter, and that is, the marriage of sound doctrine with good living. Or as Paul will summarize a few verses later in Titus 1:15 , To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. And so what Paul wants for these Cretan Christians, is that they have both purity of doctrine and purity of life. And therefore, the only men who are qualified to lead the church, are those who have been examined and tested for their purity of doctrine and purity of life. Last week we considered the first four of these qualifications for a what bishop must be , and this morning we are going to look at five things that a bishop must not be. So let me read again verses 6 and 7 for us. 6If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. 7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; [and then we get the five things a bishop must not be] not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre… #1 – A bishop must not be selfwilled (μὴ αὐθάδη) To be self-willed means to be stubborn, headstrong, brash, or arrogant. The self-willed man values his own opinion more than anyone else’s, including God, and therefore like the sluggard of Proverbs 26:16 , he is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can answer sensibly. The self-willed man always insists on doing things his way. He is unreasonable, he is not teachable, he is a law unto himself. When these kinds of men get into positions of authority (and it is sad how frequently they do), they become bullies and petty tyrants. The self-willed man has a distorted sense of proportion, and because of this, everything little thing becomes a hill to die on. He treats everyone else as if its “either my way or the highway.” The Bible likens the self-willed man to someone that is drunk on his own ego. Paul says in Romans 12:3-5 , For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. So a bishop cannot be a self-willed man, because it is essential to the pastoral office, and to basic Christian living, that we consider others as more important than ourselves. And this is hard to do! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:23 , Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. A self-willed person is blind to the needs of others, because all he ever cares and thinks about is what he needs and what he wants. He does not regard himself as one member and a part of the whole, but as wholly sufficient in himself. And this is exactly contrary to the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of charity and unity. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 , charity does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not have behave rudely, does not seek its own. So in contrast to the self-willed man, a bishop must be good-willed . That is to say, a bishop wills the good that is God for himself and his people. He is most concerned with what God’s will is for the church, and he is zealous to study and search out that will in the Scriptures and in prayer, so that he mighy say with the Lord Jesus, not my will, but Yours be done. Further, the good-willed bishop is not intimidated or threatened by people who are smarter than he is, or more talented than he is, or even more godly than he is. Indeed, the good-willed bishop wishes he was the least saintly in all the church, and he rejoices to be surrounded by holy creatures. A good-willed bishop says with the Apostle John in 3 John 4 , I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. So just as godly parents desire and delight in their children far surpassing them in virtue, so also the goodwilled bishop desires that his spiritual offspring (his disciples) far surpass him in virtue and praise before God. Another important aspect of being goodwilled rather than selfwilled, is that a man of goodwill seeks out and pursues other wise counselors. It says in Proverbs 1:5 , A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Likewise in Proverbs 20:18 it says, Every purpose is established by counsel: And with good advice make war. It is a foolish king who wages war without counsel, and how much more foolish for those who wage holy war against the spiritual forces of darkness and sin? It says in Proverbs 24:6 , For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety. This safety in a multitude of wise counselors is another reason why God has ordained that the church by governed not by any one man, but by a plurality of qualified men of equal rank. This is the beauty of good presbyterian government, when we have a multitude of wise counselors with which we may consult. Meanwhile, the self-willed man thinks he can do it all on his own. And this a bishop must not be! #2 – A bishop must not be soon angry (μὴ ὀργίλον) Other translations say he must not be quick-tempered, or irascible, given to wrath. The reasons for this are quite obvious. It says in James 1:20 , For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And in 1 Corinthians 13, the first quality of love/charity is that it is patient and long suffering. Paul says that the preachers of the gospel are ambassadors and representatives of Christ. And when we look at Christ, when we study God’s character, we discover that He is exceedingly patient with us, gentle in his correction, and that when his wrath and punishment is poured out in this life, it is always for our healing and correction. Even God’s anger is as coming from His love. It says in Psalm 86:15 , But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Likewise in Psalm 103:8 it says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. So a bishop and pastor as God’s ambassador must be patient like God is patient. A man who is easily angered is a man who lacks love. And to be a Christian that is easily angered by the sins of others, is really to be blind and ignorant of just how far you daily fall short of the glory of God. Jesus says in Matthew 7:3-4 , And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? And Paul says in Galatians 6:1 , Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. So if you struggle with bitterness, resentment, and anger issues, the place you must go is to the cross of Christ. Look in the mirror and then look at the cross. Look in the mirror and behold your wretchedness. Acknowledge to God the grossness of your sins, your ingratitude, your whining, your blame shifting, your bad attitude, your lack of love, your lack of patience, your lack of all that God commands that you be. As it says in James 4:9 , Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The place that anger issues go to die is the cross of Jesus Christ. You must see that your sins are so great, so great that the Son of God had to die for them, and that God has been exceedingly patient and kind to lead you to repentance. By constantly looking not merely at your sins, but at your sins nailed to the cross and forgiven, a person learns meekness. A person learns gentleness in how he corrects others. Because he knows the infinite debt that God has forgiven, and how apart from grace, he would be the worst of all sinners. It says of the priest in Hebrews 5:2-3 , He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. So God requires that the pastors and elders in the church be constant in their confession of their own sins to God, so that they will be gentle, wise, and patient when they help others confess their sins to God. This confession Christ does perfectly as our High Priest, and because of His mediation, we can have assurance of God’s pardon, a good conscience that, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ( 1 John 1:9 ). So because God is very patient, His bishops must not be easily angered. For anger clouds the judgment, and bishops must be wise men of justice. #3 – A bishop must not be given to wine (μὴ πάροινον) The idea here is that a bishop must not be a drunkard or given to excess with alcoholic beverages. He should not need a beer every day to unwind, but should rather be moderate in his use of God’s gifts. It says in Psalm 104:15 that God gave us wine to make glad the heart of man. And Paul explicitly tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 , Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. And so there is a time and a place and due proportion for using wine (the Lord’s Supper for example). And a bishop needs to know what those times, places, and proportions are, for that belongs to the work of justice, of giving to others (especially the sheep) what is their due. It says in Proverbs 31:4-5 , It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. And so the danger of going to excess in wine, is that a bishop loses or diminishes his powers of discernment. And it is this power of discernment that an overseer especially needs. Paul says in Ephesians 5:16-18 , See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. So a bishop must not be given to wine, instead he should be pursuing the excess of being filled with the Holy Spirit. #4 – A bishop must not be a striker (μὴ πλήκτην) Other translations say, he must not be violent , or pugnacious. A violent man or striker is like a doctor who uses a hammer when a band aid and a good night of sleep would do the trick. That is to say, a striker misdiagnoses the problems in the church, and thinks that force of arms, intimidation and threats, are how you get the job done. The man who resorts to violence, whether physical or emotional, does not understand how the gospel triumphs. It is true we are soldiers, it is true we are waging warfare, but as Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 , We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Christians need a martial spirit. Christians need a backbone and courage. But when it comes to spiritual problems, a bishop needs spiritual solutions. And therefore the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 , For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. The violent man must learn the meekness of Jesus and the self-denial of the cross. Our crusade and holy war as Christians is to rescue our enemies from the devil’s army. And so while there is a place for just wars, and the civil sword to execute God’s wrath, the church is not an earthly kingdom, but rather a spiritual kingdom with many earthly consequences. The striker confuses these two kingdoms and conflates them as one, and for this reason, amongst many others, the violent men cannot be a bishop. #5 – A bishop must not be given to filthy lucre (μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ) What is filthy lucre? It is unjust or ill-gotten gain. The man given to filthy lucre commits the sins of greed and avarice. He inverts the created order by using spiritual goods (like the truth of the gospel) to gain earthly goods (money, status, fame, fortune). Paul warns of this temptation in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 saying, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. A man who pursues ministry for self-serving motives is called a hireling. Jesus speaks of such men in John 10:11-13 saying, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. And so because bad motives are invisible, and often hard to discern, it is usually not until a wolf comes into the church, that a pastor is revealed for who he is. If the pastor is a hireling, only there for the paycheck and not the honor of Christ, he runs or is negligent when trouble comes. However, the faithful under shepherd imitates the Good Shepherd, and he stays and he fights so that God’s sheep are not scattered, and it is by this act of love that hirelings are distinguished from the true bishops. Paul tells us in Philippians 1:15-18 how we should feel and think about hirelings in the church. And it might surprise you what he says. He says, Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. Conclusion St. Augustine once said that “The shepherd is to be loved, the hireling is to be tolerated, and of the robber we must beware.” This captures Paul’s sentiment that while men will preach Christ from all different kinds of motives (good, bad, and mixed), our focus should be that our own heart and our own motives are right in the sight of God. For this is the only safe path to take, and it is God who will ultimately judge and separate the sheep from the goats, the shepherds from the hirelings, the bishops who are true bishops from those who are bishops in name only. Your concern must ever be that you are a true sheep, that you hear and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, and you follow him to the green pastures and still waters of heavenly glory. Jesus says in John 10:15-16 , As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. May God call and gather and keep your soul under his watchful eye, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 1 (Titus 1:5-9) 1:02:25

منذ 13 weeks1:02:25

1:02:25

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 1 Sunday, August 3rd, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 1:5-9 Prayer Father, we thank you for our fathers and mothers in the faith. Those who begat spiritual life into us by telling us the truth, that we are sinners, that we need Jesus, and that Jesus loves to forgive and transform sinners into saints. And so holy Savior, make us to aspire now to imitate the lives of the faithful, especially those bishops, those overseers, who have kept watch and keep watch over our very souls. Teach us now by thy Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen. Introduction The title of my sermon this morning is What A Bishop Must Be – Part 1. And I have broken this sermon into multiple parts because here the Apostle Paul gives to us 16 distinct qualifications by which a man must be judged if he would become a Presbyter/Bishop. And so this morning we are going to consider the first 4 of these qualifications, and then the rest in future sermons. Now recall the occasion of this letter from Paul to Titus. Paul had visited the Island of Crete and preached the gospel there. That gospel had taken root, baby churches had been planted, but they lacked leadership, they lacked church government, and so Paul leaves Titus on Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting/lacking, and ordain elders/presbyters in every city.” So Titus’s job is establish what we call a presbytery on the Island of Crete. What is a presbytery? A presbytery is a gathering of 3 or more qualified men of equal rank, who together govern the church in obedience to God’s Word. The apostolic pattern was to establish a local presbytery over each congregation, which today we call an elder session, and then above that congregation’s local presbytery was a larger regional presbytery, and then above that various synods or church councils where all the church would come together and be represented. Acts 15 is the first example of such a synod, where multiple churches send delegates to Jerusalem to deliberate, and then that decision is written down and circulated amongst the broader church. This is what we call Presbyterian church government, and it was Titus’s task to establish this form of government on the Island of Crete. Now to give you a little portrait of what the Island of Crete is like, just imagine white sandy beaches everywhere, crystal blue water that you can snorkel in, palm trees, mountains, beautiful landscapes everywhere you look, and all that on an Island that is just a little bigger than King County and Thurston County combined (about 3,200 square miles). And so if you are Titus, this is a beautiful environment in which to work. But with that beautiful vacation-like atmosphere comes also the challenge of arousing these Cretan Christians to live not for the pleasures of this world, but for the surpassing pleasures of the world to come. We learn in verse 12 that it was a distinct vice of these islanders to be lazy, liars, and given to sensuality. Paul says in verses 12-13, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. And so Titus has his work cut out for him. On top of the sounds of waves lapping at the shore, and birds chirping cheerfully in the palm trees, there is Titus rebuking the Cretans. “Stop lying! Get up and do some work! Put down that third mojito and become sober minded!” This is what Titus was left in paradise to do. Now amongst those Christians in Crete who do not need such a sharp rebuke, Titus must examine and assess the men in each congregation so that he can identify and ordain elders/bishops in each city. And Paul has set down these 16 qualifications for an elder/bishop, which are to be read in every church. And this is the bar for morality that every Christian man of every age and stage of life should aspire to, even if he is not called to be an elder. In other words, these 16 qualifications are a universal standard for godliness and the whole church should desire this for themselves and their leadership. And so while the focus is on what a bishop must be, these character traits are what every Christian ought to desire to become in his or her unique way. And so as we go through the first 4 of these traits, I want you to examine yourself. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 , Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. As to whether Christ is really living in you. If Titus were to visit our church, and sit each of us down for a 1 on 1 personal interview, and this was the rubric, how would you do? So with that in mind, let us consider now the first 4 of these qualifications for a bishop. #1 – A Bishop must be blameless (ἀνέγκλητος) This quality is repeated in verse 6 and 7. And in the parallel passage of 1 Timothy 3, this quality of being blameless is also put first in the order of qualifications. So this is a big deal and of utmost important to Paul. What does it mean to be blameless? Other translations say, “above reproach.” And the idea is that you must not be chargeable with any notorious crime, or heinous sin. Or to put it positively, you are a law-abiding citizen, and you keep the ten commandments. You do not have a reputation for being a thief, or a liar, or a cheat, and therefore your blameless character will not bring any reproach upon Christ and the ministry of the Word. We are told in Luke 1:6 that John the Baptist’s parents were of blameless character. Zacharias and Elizabeth, were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. So we are not talking about imputed righteousness here, we are talking about actual and inherent righteousness. Zacharias and Elizabeth were such people, and so also a bishop must be. In Philippians 2:13-15 Paul gives us some practical advice for how to become blameless. He says, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [that is, grace is always available to you, so use it!] Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. So if you would like to make progress in becoming blameless, start by doing all things without murmuring and arguing. Not complaining is always a good place to start if we would grow in godliness. And lest this seems like an unreasonably high standard, consider the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 , Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. #2 – A Bishop must be the husband of one wife (μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ) This could also be translated more literally as a bishop must be a one-woman man. Here monogamy is set forth as essential to a married man’s character, and by this qualification, polygamists, fornicators, and adulterers are excluded from the pastoral office. An elder must be content in his marriage, faithful to the wife of his youth, and he must shun in himself every temptation to let his mind and thoughts wander. Blameless Job says in Job 31:1 , I made a covenant with mine eyes; Why then should I think upon a maid? And it says in Psalm 119:9 , How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. And so this quality of being a one-woman man, is about fidelity, chastity, purity, and contentment. If a man is not faithful to the wife of his youth, how can he be faithful to God’s bride, the church? If a man is willing to violate the covenant of marriage, how can he be trusted to keep his ordination vows? For the pastor who is married, his marriage is a constant proving ground to first love his wife the way Christ loves the church, so that he can love the church the way Christ loves the church. Husbandry is the art of caring for and cultivating something, so that it becomes fruitful. In marriage, a husband must show tender care to study and cultivate, to nourish and to cherish his wife, so that she bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And it is this school of marital husbandry that teaches a man to nourish and cherish also the bride of Christ, so that she can become fruitful for God. And so a bishop must be a one-woman man, just like he ought to be a one-church pastor. He must be content to love and serve in the first instance the unique and particular congregation God has called him to, and to not covet his neighbor’s church. A man who is content in his marriage, and being faithful and attentive there, has the qualities of someone who can also be a husbandman in God’s vineyard. Like Adam in the Garden, a Bishop must guard and keep the bride of Christ. He must be jealous for the purity and chastity of God’s people, even as he is jealous for the purity and chastity of his own wife. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 , For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The serpent’s lies still resound in our world. He still tempts us with forbidden fruit and provokes us to ask, “Did God really say?” and “Ye shall not surely die.” And therefore, a pastor must study to refute these lies with truth and be jealous for the chastity of the church to remain intact.This is all part of being a one-woman man, and a faithful husband. #3 – A Bishop (if he has children) must have faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. I should note that both this qualification and the previous one do not require that every pastor must be married and must have children, but rather if he is married, or if he has children, these principles apply to him. And we know this because the Apostle Paul was himself unmarried (likely a widower) and without children under his roof. Moreover, the apostles considered it a matter of liberty as to whether they could bring a wife along with them in their work. For example, Peter had a wife (Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law), and she accompanied him for at least some parts of his apostolic work. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:5-6 , Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas. So these are not absolute qualifications, they are relative to a man’s station in life, otherwise a pastor would be disqualified if his wife suddenly died, or when his children graduate and leave the house. I should also note that the language here applies to children still living under their parent’s authority, not to grown children who have been emancipated and are off living as adults. It is true that the lives and character of grown children still matters, and can reflect poorly on an elder (for wisdom is justified by her children), but the focus of this qualification is on those under the immediate authority of their father. So for those who do have children living under their roof, those children must not be little demons. They must not be bullies on the playground, giving kids wedgies and robbing them of their lunch money. They aren’t being called to the principal’s office every week for stuffing the redhead into the locker. In the parallel of 1 Timothy 3:4-5 , Paul expands on this saying, a bishop must be One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?). So the idea here is that his children are professing believers. They love Jesus. They go to church. They are baptized. They are little disciples, not worldlings, not Taylor Swift fans, they do not follow every new fad. This language of not being accused of riot or unruly implies the sins of drunkenness,sensuality, and irreverent partying. What is most likely in view here are teenaged children who shun their father’s authority. But this can also apply to grown children like Eli’s sons who were sleeping with the women at the tabernacle, and Eli allowed them to remain as priests. For Eli’s lack of discipline as both father and priest, he was supernaturally judged and deposed from office by death. It says in 1 Samuel 2:29-30 , Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. The logic of this qualification is that a pastor’s children are his first ministry of discipleship. And if they are without discipline, then something’s off in that home. And when something is off in an elder’s home, it hinders his effectiveness and his confidence to minister to others. We don’t want to be hypocrites, and so we must take heed that our children are faithful children, not rioters and unruly. I should also add that Paul is not requiring here anything above and beyond what he requires of ALL Christian parents and children. Ephesians 6:4 applies to all Christian fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. A father who has failed his own children is not qualified to be the pastor of other people’s children. #4 – A Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God (ἀνέγκλητον εἶναι, ὡς Θεοῦ οἰκονόμον) This word for steward is οἰκονόμος, which literally means a household manager . And the idea is that a steward has real authority, but it is a authority over what belongs to God, and his authority is regulated by the bounds God has set. To be a pastor and a bishop is to steward the most precious possessions in the world: 1) immortal souls and 2) God’s truth. This means a pastor must genuinely love people, because they are the people Christ died to purchase for Himself. And if Jesus thought you were valuable enough to die for, then a pastor must value them in that same way. He is stewarding God’s possessions. Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12 , He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? So a bishop must be faithful in stewarding first his own soul, his own gifts, his own person. And if he has kept well his own soul, entrusting it to our faithful Creator, then to him may be trusted the true riches, other souls, other people, the mysteries of the faith which are as life to the soul. To be called as a pastor is to be called to steward the most important things in the world. And because this is such a grave and daunting task, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16 , Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. And so an elder must keep a close watch on himself and his doctrine. And he must continue in this with vigilance, because his own salvation, and the salvation of others depends on it. The mindset of a steward is to say, “Jesus died for these precious souls, and what is precious to Jesus is precious to me.” A steward knows and trembles at Hebrews 13:17 which says , Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. And our only response is to say with the Apostle, And who is sufficient for these things? ( 2 Cor 2:16 ), And But he gives more grace . ( James 4:6 ). Much grace and much fearand trembling attend the pastoral office. Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:1 , This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. It is work that a man should aspire to , not to honors or status or position. Many people aspire to be pastors and elders out of misguided zeal, or out of frustration from their own bad experiences under bad leadership. But the one who God truly calls to this office, knows that he desires a good work. Work that will demand his entire life and being, and that comes with it the warning of James 3:1 , not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. And so if you would desire a stricter judgment, and a good work, then you must be blameless as a steward of God’s household. You must have the mind of Christ, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. ( Phil 2:7 ). A bishop, like Christ, seeks to be all things to all men, not to please men for their own sake, but for God’s sake and to win them to salvation. Conclusion It is a high standard to meet these qualifications. And yet they are not so unreasonably high that no man can attain to them. What is certain is that God so love the church, and He so cares for your soul as the Chief Shepherd and Supreme Bishop of the church, that he tells us exactly what an under shepherd and bishop must be. So if you are challenged by these four qualifications or feel that you may never make progress in your sanctification, remember who the original twelve apostles used to be. Some of them were fishermen, tax collectors, unlearned and ignorant men ( Acts 4:13 ). And yet they made the Jews marvel at their boldness because they had spent time with Jesus. Remember who the Apostle Paul used to be. He was a persecutor of Christians, breathing out threatening’s and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord ( Acts 9:1 ). And yet God visited Saul in such an evil state, and converted him, and changed him into the kind of man who says things like, But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our very own souls, because ye were dear unto us. ( 1 Thess 2:7-8 ). If God can turn a proud, self-righteous and haughty Saul, into a sweet and gentle nursing mother Paul, He can change you from who you are right now, to who God created you to be. The wonderful thing about knowing Jesus, and following Jesus, and doing what Jesus says, is that when you trust Him, He gives you beauty in exchange for your ashes. If you give Him your sins, your shortcomings, your shame, your story, your brokenness, the ugliness, all the imperfections, then He will say back to you, “I know, and I love you. I know who you are, I know your past, I know your pain, and I died to forgive you and heal you from all of it. I have abundant life waiting for you, if you will trust me and follow me until the end.” This is the glory of the gospel. That God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ( 2 Cor 5:21 ). And that means if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. ( 2 Cor 5:17 ). The promise of Jesus is that eternal life can begin here and now through repentance and faith. So cast aside your half-hearted commitments, renew your covenant with Jesus to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If the gospel could go to the Island of Crete, and change Cretans into Christians, the gospel can do the same for Centralians, for Washingtonians, for Americans, for anyone. And so may God bring this transformation about, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: Everything Beautiful (Ron Vernon Memorial) 28:58

منذ 14 weeks28:58

28:58

Everything Beautiful Saturday, July 19th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Ecclesiastes 3:1–11 Prayer Father, we thank you for the life of your servant Ron Vernon. We thank you for giving him a long life, a life within the church, a life amongst friends, a life of seeking to follow Jesus, even unto death. We thank you for the promise of Revelation 14:13 , which says, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” We thank you for giving Ron rest in Your peace. And now we ask that we who still labor in this world, may take heed to our own death, to the state of our own soul, and so we ask in the words of Psalm 90:12 , “Teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Grant us such wisdom now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction For the 2.5 years that I was privileged to be Ron’s pastor, I had many opportunities to ask him, “Ron, are you ready to meet the Lord?” Sometimes I would ask him what books he was reading, or how his prayer life was going, but as his health started to wane, I increased the frequency of this question whenever I saw him, “Ron, are you ready to meet the Lord?” Most of the time, he would answer with something like, “I’m not sure,” or I’m not quite ready yet,” or “I’m trying but I’m struggling to pray,” or “I’m not where I ought to be.” On one occasion, he expressed that he was reading some books by the puritans, and he observed that their relationship with God seemed a lot more intimate and familiar than what he was presently experiencing. And so Ron, like most authentic Christians, desired greater assurance that he was forgiven, that he belonged to Jesus, so that he could be ready to meet the Lord. And so this morning as we remember Ron’s life and celebrate that he now has rest from his labors, and full assurance of God’s love for him, I want to pose this same question to you: Are you ready to meet the Lord? However ready or not you feel, the truth is that God wants you to be ready at all times to enter His glorious presence. And He has given you in His word many truths to help prepare you for judgment day, whenever the day may be. And so this morning I want to consider briefly just three of those truths, so that you might have greater assurance that you belong to Jesus. Or if you do not yet know Jesus, may receive Him from all that He wants to give you. Truth #1 – You are going to die, and you don’t know when. We see here in Ecclesiastes 3:2 , that there is a time to be born, and a time to die. And then in verse 11, we see that those times of birth and death and everything in between belongs to God. It says later in Ecclesiastes 8:8 , No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. That is to say, no man is a self-sufficient being who gives life to himself. All of us are on divine life-support, and God is the one supplying oxygen to our soul, breath by breath, and we have not power over our soul to retain it or remove it. Even those who have attempted to end their life, sometimes find that God’s mercy does not permit them. For God says in Deuteronomy 32:39 , I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. And in 1 Samuel 2:6 , Hannah prays, The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. So just as you did not choose the moment or day of your birth, God chose it. So also, with the day of your death. No man knows with any absolute certainty, the day or the hour. Jesus says of the rich fool in Luke 12:20-21 , But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have stored up?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” The Apostle James warns likewise of such presumption, as if life will go on as usual saying , Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. ( James 4:13-17 ). What is the good that God has told you to do? In the words of Jesus, it is to repent and believe the gospel ( Mark 1:15 ) Or in the words of Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 , Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. And so God’s Word to you today is, Have you confessed all your sins to Him? Have you repented of all the evil you have ever done? Have you forsaken the old and unhappy way of living in sin, and committed yourself to following Jesus come what may. That is what it means to repent and to believe the gospel, to fear God and keep His commands. David models for us what such repentance looks like in Psalm 51, For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me…Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Jesus says likewise in Luke 15:7 , there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. And so if you would become ready to meet the Lord today, you must first bring joy to heaven by your repentance. You must name your sins and forsake your sins and follow Jesus instead. Jesus says in Luke 9:62 , No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. This means that repentance is not just a one-time decision at the beginning of your Christian life, but is also an ongoing commitment (we call faith) to forsake what will drag you to hell, and by the grace of God get back up whenever you stumble. Paul describes this resolve in Philippians 3:13-14 , 12 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended [perfection]; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus… I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Jesus wants you. He has laid hold of you even now by putting this word into your ears. And if you would become ready to die, ready to meet him face to face, then you must take hold of him with both hands. That means releasing, letting go of all the other things you treasure more than Him. You must let go of your grudges, your bitterness, your anger, your envy, your pride, your hatred. You must no be obstinate to the grace God wants to give you. Only then, with empty hands, can you with Paul lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. That is truth number 1. You are going to die, and you do not know when, and therefore you must make ready by repenting and embracing Jesus. Truth #2 – Jesus died so that when you die, you may rise again. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 14:7-9 , For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. None of us knows how sinful we really are. Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? And so what the death of Jesus crucified on the cross reveals is that we are so sinful, and so deceived about our true state, that the Creator God himself had to come down, He assumed our humanity, and then He suffered and died in our humanity, to satisfy what we owe to Divine justice. If you want to know what your sins deserve, look at the cross. We all deserve crucifixion. If you want to know how disordered and screwed up your soul is, look at the cross. Jesus died so that you could receive a new nature, a soul renewed by grace. And lest you be too discouraged by how great your sins are and how desperately wicked your heart is, look at the cross. For this is how much God loves you. That with arms outstretched, Jesus invites you with his dying breath to be forgiven and to enter his kingdom. For where sin has abounded (and it has abounded a lot!), the grace of Christ has abounded all the more. It says in Romans 5:6-11 , For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And what gives us assurance that we shall rise again with Him, is that He died for us before we did anything good. He died for us when we were still potheads, fornicators, hypocrites, and liars. He died for us when were still hating God and hating one another. And if He died for us then, to reconcile us to God, how can anything now or in the future separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? This is the hope we have as Christians. It is a living hope and the source of our assurance. We believe the word of promise, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ ( Phil 1:6 ). Or as Jesus says in John 10:27-29 , My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. When Jesus Christ lays hold on you, he places you in His Father’s hand. And His sheep hear this, they believe this, and they are comforted by the Good Shepherd. Truth #3 – God makes everything, even death, beautiful in His time. It is easy to see the beauty in the time to be born , it is not as easy to see it in the time to die. When a baby is safely delivered, we rejoice because a new life has entered this world. An immortal soul, joined to a little 8lb body is a marvel to behold. Jesus himself says in John 16:21 , A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. It is not hard to see the beauty of a woman’s sorrow that suddenly turns into joy with the birth of her child. Few things compare to that moment of relief, of deliverance, when a mother survives the birth and then holds her baby for the first time. This is beautiful. This is what poetry is for. However, when someone dies, the death itself is a great evil. There is nothing good or beautiful about the separation of soul from body. The Bible calls death a great enemy, an evil for which Jesus Christ came into this world to conquer. And so we may wonder, How is it that God can make death beautiful in His time? The answer is that death can become beautiful, not for the evil that it is, but for the good that God brings about through it. As Joseph says to his brothers who attempted to murder him, But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. So also does God work the greatest good through the greatest evil, for nothing is more evil than the unjust crucifixion of the perfect man Jesus, and yet this became God’s instrument to raise the whole world from the dead. It says in Hebrews 2:14-15 , Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself [Christ Jesus] likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The death of Jesus is the most beautiful thing the world has ever known. That God would so love us who are so unlovely, and then make us lovely by His grace. That is the beauty of Christ’s death which conquers death, and which makes Ron’s death (and our death), not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter which is life eternal, resurrection life, life without death, life without pain, life without sorrow. This is why God says in Psalm 116:15 , Precious (beautiful) in the sight of the Lord Is the death of his saints. Because our God makes death blossom into resurrection, and this is how He makes everything beautiful in His time. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: What is a Presbyterian? (Titus 1:5) 50:45

منذ 16 weeks50:45

50:45

What is a Presbyterian? Sunday, July 13th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 1:5 Prayer Father, we thank you for this letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus, through which we are taught the truths necessary for our salvation, and the kind of life we must live if we would see the kingdom of heaven. We ask for your blessing now as we hear this word preached, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction After the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, it says in Acts 1:3 , he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Now just as every kingdom has a king, so also every kingdom has some form of government. We call a government a monarchy when there is one supreme ruler at the top. And in God’s kingdom, Jesus is that monarch who is called King of kings and Lord of lords ( Rev 19:16 ). That is to say, Jesus is that monarch from which all other lesser monarchs and lords, receive some delegated power to govern. Paul puts it this way in Romans 13:1-2 , Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. Now just as Christ rules as King in the civil realm through various lesser magistrates, so also does he rule in the church. And we said in our first sermon on Titus that the primary purpose of this letter is to teach us how Jesus wants the church (which is his garden and vineyard) to be governed and cared for, and by whom. Moreover, we read in Ephesians 4:11 , that after those 40 days of speaking about the kingdom with his disciples, He ascended to heaven and gave gifts to man. What were those gifts? It says, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Paul says likewise in 1 Corinthians 12:28 , And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues. Notice that of all the gifts Jesus could have given at his heavenly coronation ceremony, he thought that what we most needed was church officers. And if that surprises you, just imagine a church without the apostles, the prophets, and the four evangelists. Imagine you have no New Testament scriptures and no pastors or teachers to explain those writings you do not have. It turns out that without church officers, there is no church. Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:13-14 , How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! So the gifts that King Jesus gives at his ascension are people. And these people, full of the Holy Spirit, preach and write and evangelize and start churches, and then they appoint successors to care for those churches after they die. And this is what the book of Titus is all about.It is about giving us the particulars, the details, of how Jesus governs his church. We call this government of Christ over the church his ecclesiastical hierarchy. It is a form of government with Jesus at the top, then the twelve apostles, then prophets, then pastors and teachers, and down the line. And why does this ecclesiastical hierarchy exist? Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:12-16 to explain. He says they are, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. That is why church government exists: For the unity of the faith, for the health of the body, for the building up in love. This is why Jesus has given you elders, pastors, teachers, and deacons. Now I begin with this overview of Jesus’ monarchical rule over the world and the church because this morning in our text, we have a specific form of church government under that monarchy, described by the Apostle Paul. And it is a form of government that today we call Presbyterian Church Government. Now if we were to look around at these United States, and surveyed all the different churches, and denominations, and the many networks and tribes and governmental structures that exist, we would discover that there is a lot of confusion in our day about how the church is to be governed, and by whom. And so this morning I want to explain from the Scriptures, why our form of government is called Presbyterian , and why God commands the church to be ruled this way , and not the way that many other churches today are governed. There are three questions I want to answer this morning. Outline 1. Where does this name Presbyterian come from? 2. What is essential to Presbyterian church government? 3. Why does this form of Presbyterian government matter for the health of the church? Q#1 – Where does this name Presbyterian come from? Surprise surprise, it comes from the Bible, and we have an example of it right here in Titus 1:5 . Verse 5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: That word elders in Greek is πρεσβυτέρους, from which we get the English word presbyters . What is a πρεσβύτερος/presbyter? There are two main senses in which this word is used in Scripture. 1. In the first sense, a presbyter/elder can refer to any man who is of older/elder age. And because Proverbs 16:31 says, The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness, it became customary for those who were older and wiser men to also govern and rule the community. 2. Therefore, this word presbyter/elder also came to be used in a second sense to refer the office of government in Israel. So a presbyter can be any elderly or older man. Or it can refer to the office of presbyter/elder which is for those who are more mature and older in knowledge and wisdom. To give you just one example of this from the Old Testament, when Moses feels that leading the nation is a burden too heavy for him to carry alone, God says to him in Number 11:16-17, Gather ( Συνάγαγέ ) unto me seventy men of the elders (presbyters) of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. First observe that an elder is an officer who carries a heavy burden. In Scripture, leadership and government is akin to carrying something heavy. What is that heavy thing? It is the responsibility to act justly towards those under your care. And therefore, the qualifications to be a presbyter in Israel, are that you must be wise, understanding, knowledgeable and without partiality in your judgment ( Deut 1:13-17 ). Second, observe that these presbyters function as representatives of the people. In Deuteronomy 33:5 Moses says, And he [referring to himself] was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people And the tribes of Israel were gathered together. So in Israel, the hierarchy of God’s government was that God speaks to Moses, Moses speaks to the presbyters, and then the presbyters speak to their respective tribal heads, and so forth. We see that Moses father-in-law, Jethro the Midianite advised this presbyterian form of government in Exodus 18. There we read, So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves ( Ex 18:24-27 ). This is the original Israelite form of presbyterian government, and it becomes the pattern for the nation of Israel, the pattern for the Jewish synagogue, from which the apostolic church sprang forth. Summary: We call our form of church government Presbyterian , because it is presbyters who rule the church. Presbyters represent the people before God, and they represent God towards the people. So returning to Titus 1:5 we see that Paul has left Titus in Crete, because the church lacked presbyters, and it was Titus’ job to oversee the appointment/ordination of presbyters in every city. This brings us to question 2. Q#2 – What is essential to Presbyterian church government? I should flag here that within and amongst Presbyterians, there are a bunch of variations in our polities are organized. And that is because God has given us a measure of liberty to organize, for better or worse, according to the light of nature and general Chrisian wisdom. But what I am asking here is, What is essential to Presbyterianism that distinguishes it from Independent Churches and Episcopal Churches? Of the three major forms of church government, Independents have no authoritative rulers outside of their individual and local congregation. There is no higher court of appeal beyond the pastor or elder session that hold them accountable. That is called Congregationalism or Independent Church Government. You can hear it in the name Independent , they depend on no outside pastors or churches to govern their church. On the other side of the spectrum is Episcopal church government, which also has many variations within itself, and some are very close to Presbyterianism, while some variations are quite different.But for example, the Roman Catholic church has an episcopal form of government where there is a pyramid of authority with a single bishop, the Pope at the top who claims to have universal jurisdiction over the whole church. So against the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians deny that any one man can possess such jurisdiction over other elders and churches. And then against the Independents, Presbyterians deny that any one church can be disconnected from the broader church and without accountability. And so what is essential to Presbyterian government, is that the church is only a complete church, when it is governed by a plurality of qualified presbyters of equal rank. Let me now prove this to you from the Scriptures. First observe in verse 5 of our text, what Paul commands Titus to do. He says, ordain elders in every city. In that sentence is virtually contained the essence of Presbyterian government. Let me draw this out for us. Notice that Paul says presbyters in the plural. Nowhere will you find in the New Testament any church that has only one person who governs it. Even when a region is newly evangelized, like the church in Crete, not even the Apostle Paul is a sole ruler of the churches he plants. Instead, what we find universally, in every instance in the New Testament, is that a church is only a complete church, when it is governed by a plurality of qualified men called presbyters , who when they convene together constitute a presbytery. Every single church in the New Testament was under the authority of a presbytery, and it is the presbytery that ordains and sends men to preach and minister. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:14 , Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Notice, Timothy was not ordained by Paul alone, but by the laying on of hands of the presbytery. In Acts 14:23 we are told how Paul and Barnabas organized the churches they had planted, And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. Observe again that the while the church is in the singular, elders is plural. It says in Hebrews 13:17 , Obey them (plural) that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. See that God commands members in the church to submit to church government, but it is not to a solo senior pastor but rather to a plurality of male rulers. He says a few verses earlier in Hebrews 13:7 , Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. The Apostle James says likewise in James 5:14 , Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders (presbyters plural) of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Many other examples could be given. But I want you to see that the essence of Presbyterian government is that the church must be ruled by a plurality of qualified presbyters. No one man, except the God-man Jesus Christ, has absolute power in the church. And therefore, any church that lacks this plurality of qualified presbyters who are held accountable for their life and doctrine, is a deficient church, or in Paul’s words a church that is wanting/lacking/incomplete. Sadly, there are many many deficient, diseased, and disordered churches in our land today, and what is worse, they don’t even know it. We wonder why our nation is such a mess. Why abortion and adultery and divorce are so rampant. Why drugs and homelessness and crime are on the rise. We have to look in the mirror. We have not obeyed God in how we govern the church and who we ordain to office. And so God is giving us a taste of our folly so that we will repent! God says in Jeremiah 5:30-31 , An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? God’s warning to the American church, is that unless you repent and kick out all the wolves, these self-ordained teachers who are accountable to no one, these gay and lesbian bishops, unless you return to the biblical standards for elders/presbyters, your churches and nation shall continue to degrade. Once upon a time in America we had sabbath laws. Murderers were executed for their crimes. School children were taught the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Magistrates had to be Christian men. But now today we have pedophiles and transexuals openly promoting vice. God says in Hosea 4:6-9 , My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: Therefore will I change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, And they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest: And I will punish them for their ways, And reward them their doings. As the shepherds go, so go the sheep. And our Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, has not told us plainly in His Word what his under-shepherds (pastors) must be. In a future sermon we will look at those qualifications for elders, but for now let us consider our third and final question. Q#3 – Why does this form of Presbyterian government matter for the health of the church? I have three reasons, but before I give them, let me just warn you by saying that no mere form of government can in itself prevent apostasy, corruption, and abuse in the church. Presbyterian government could not save the nation of Israel from crucifying the Messiah. In fact, it was their highest court, their Sanhedrin, the passed the death sentence, and later persecuted the apostles. So unless you have good and godly men in that government, the form hardly matters. To take just one modern example, consider the so-called Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA). Once upon time they were actually presbyterian. But then they abandoned (amongst other things) the biblical standards for who may be a presbyter, and so today something like half of the pastors under age 50 are women. They are flying rainbow flags outside of their church, and not as a sign of God’s promise to never flood the earth. And so as “Bible Believing Presbyterians,” we must not pretend that just because our form of government is apostolic, therefore presbyters and presbyteries always get it right. Any honest and experienced presbyter will tell you, we don’t always see clearly and do justly. Which is why we like the checks and balances that good presbyterian government provides. So in closing let me give you three reasons why Presbyterian government matters for the health of the church: 1. Because presbyters are sinful and fallible men. And therefore, we need to be held accountable to our ordination vows, and to the biblical qualifications to continue in our office. And so we need a higher power than us, presbytery, to keep watch over us. 2. Because the members of every church deserve a higher court of appeal in the event that their pastor or local presbytery (elder session) sins against them. For example, if a church discipline case comes up, and we excommunicate someone, but that person thinks we judged unjustly. They have a right to appeal to Anselm Presbytery, to our Presiding Minister Michael Kloss, and then a committee would be formed to investigate how we handled that discipline. And if there was a miscarriage of justice, they have the power to correct that. So Presbytery is an added layer of protection for the sheep, if a shepherd goes astray, the Presbytery can call him back. And then above Presbytery there is a Council, so if an entire presbytery goes astray, Council can correct them. And if Council goes astray, then there are other Presbyterian denominations who you may join. 3. Third and finally, Presbyterian church government acknowledges in practice , that Christ’s body is far bigger than any one congregation. What’s more, we believe that we are better and stronger when we work together, when we acknowledge the validity of other church’s discipline. When we pray for one another. When we stand united against evil in the public square together with one voice. It says in Psalm 122:3-6 , Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. What is this psalm about but the church of Christ. The many tribes of Christendom who go up and are allied together for the testimony of Jesus. This is what our form of government is aimed at. To make Jesus known through our unity of love, our unity of judgment, even upon a plurality of thrones. For it is in this unity that the church has peace and prosperity, and for this we do pray. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: How To Govern The Church (Titus 1:1-5) 34:46

منذ 19 weeks34:46

34:46

How To Govern The Church Sunday, June 22nd, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 1:1–5 Prayer Father, we thank you for manifesting your Word through preaching, and as we now hear Your Word proclaimed, we ask that you would subdue us by Your sweet mercy, rule us by your awesome power, and teach us by Your Holy Spirit of Truth, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction If you have ever tried to plant a garden, you know that it is not enough to just toss some seed in the soil and then come back three months later to a beautiful and abundant harvest. Ever since Adam’s sin in God’s garden, our lot has been that of Genesis 3:17-18 where God says to man, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Because of our sin, fruit no longer comes easily. This is true in the natural world, and it is also true in the supernatural world. In proof of this consider Galatians 5:22-23 , where Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Now ask yourself, does that supernatural fruit come easily and without effort? Do you find it easy to be gentle with obstinate and dishonest people? Do you find it easy to be joyful when your car breaks down, or when a steady stream of medical bills continue to arrive in the mail? Do you find it easy to be patient when you have a migraine, and a fussy baby, and you still have to cook dinner for your ungrateful husband? We all know the answer is No , fruit of the spirit does not come easy. And Paul himself acknowledges this by saying in the very next verse (vs. 24), “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” That is to say, if you are the hard ground where you want a fruitful garden to grow, you have to constantly tend the soil of your heart by crucifying selfish and sinful desires. You have to pull up bad habits at the root. You have to mow down and burn the thorns and the thistles, and only after that soil has been prepared are you ready in the words of James 1:21 to, “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Jesus himself speak of the Word preached as seed that falls into many different kinds of soil. But it is only in the soil that has been made ready and fertile by grace, that any true and lasting fruit comes forth. Now this morning we are beginning Paul’s letter to Titus. And the whole purpose of this letter is to instruct the church in how she can become a fruitful and pleasant garden for God. The Apostle Paul had worked hard to plant the church on the Island of Crete, but he did not have time to ordain and test elders, organize the leadership, and give the church the protection and teaching she would need to become a healthy garden for years to come. And therefore, he leaves behind his coworker Titus, “to set in order the things that are wanting (lacking) and ordain elders in every city.” So just as after you prepare the soil and plant the seed, you still need to water and tend, guard and keep your garden from birds and pests, weeds and disease, so also it is in the church. And in God’s Garden elders are His appointed gardeners. Yes, every individual Christian is responsible to tend and keep his own soul, but because we are often irresponsible and inexperienced, God commands that certain qualified men, keep watch, oversee, and protect His garden. And so this letter from Paul to Titus, which is ultimately a letter from Christ to His church, are detailed instructions in how the church is to be governed . And because many people do not like to be governed, Paul has written to Titus in the form of an open letter. So that as Titus is making changes, rebuking heretics, installing qualified pastors, and telling everyone else in the church how they must live in accord with Christ, they all can see and hear that Titus is not just making things up on the fly. Titus is not being legalistic or arbitrary in what he commands, he is simply commanding what God has commanded. And so as we study this letter in the months to come, we are all going to receive some very pointed and at times uncomfortably specific instructions. And it will be good for us! This letter to Titus is one of the most practical letters in the New Testament. Luther calls it “an epitome and summary of Paul’s wordier epistles.” And William Tyndale says that “in this letter is contained all that is needful for a Christian to know.” For in it, Paul teaches us both good doctrine, true theology, and how to live a holy life. We might say that a major theme of this book is the marriage of truth with practice, right doctrine with good living . He is going to tell us how pastors must conduct themselves, and then how older men, older women, younger women, and younger men must behave, at the same connecting good behavior with the grace of the gospel. So with that by way of introduction, let us consider these opening verses together. Outline of the Text In verses 1-3 Paul establishes his authority as descending from God through Christ to himself (that is the hierarchy). In verses 4-5 Paul communicates that authority to Titus and explains the reason/cause for leaving him in Crete. Verse 1 1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; Paul identifies himself first as a servant of God . What is a servant? A servant is someone who lives not for their own sake but for someone else’s sake. A servant does not do his own will and desire, he does the will and desire of his superior. And therefore, a servant of God is a person who lives entirely for God. He has relinquished his will and says with the Lord Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done ( Luke 22:42 ).” Can you say that? Paul says in Galatians 2:20 , “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Can you say that? If not, then you are not yet a servant of God. A good servant from love does the will of his master. And this is who Paul is. Next, he identifies himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” What is an apostle? An apostle is the highest human authority in the church,and he is appointed directly and personally by Jesus Christ, and therefore has authority with Christ to lay the foundation of the church. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 , “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” So Apostles are founders of the church who preach Christ as the cornerstone. And then on top of that foundation they charge lesser men, like Timothy and Titus, pastors and teachers, to build on that foundation taking heed how they build. How should Titus build? Paul models for Titus how to wield divine authority. He says it is, “according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;” That is to say, his ministry is in harmony with and for the sake of teaching and protecting God’s people. Titus must water, weed, and guard the faith of God’s elect. This includes both the act of faith , and the content/articles of faith. The act of faith is simply believing whatever God has spoken and acknowledging it as true. This faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God ( Rom. 10:17 ), and therefore the word of God must be proclaimed. The articles of faith are the guiding first principles which every true Christian holds in his heart (some more explicitly and some more implicitly). This is the contents of our faith, sometimes called “the faith of Jesus Christ,” ( Gal. 3:22-25 ) and Paul’s apostleship and Titus’ ministry in Crete was to be in accord with this faith, keeping in step with the gospel. Moreover, the sign that the true gospel has been preached and believed, is that godliness follows from it. This is what he means by, “the acknowledging of the truth which is after (kata/according to) godliness. ” He says essentially the same thing in 1 Timothy 1:5 , “Now the end/telos of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” In other words, pure doctrine should lead to pure living. Your acknowledgment of Christ’s lordship should lead to Christ-like treatment of others, which is charity. And as Jesus says in Matthew 7:20 , “by their fruits ye shall know them.” This leads us to verse 2 where Paul states the objective/purpose for Christ calling him as an apostle. Verse 2 2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; Paul was given divine authority, not for his own ego or puffing up, but in order to lead the Gentiles from darkness to light. It says in Acts 13:46-48 , “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said [to the envious Jews], “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us [quoting Isaiah 49:6 ]: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” So the fact that Christ ascended and gave to the church a government: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ( Eph. 4:11 ), was all in hope of eternal life . Paul says in Romans 8:24 , “For we are saved by hope.” And in Romans 5:5 , “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” And so when the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, we believe in hope that his resurrection is our resurrection. “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” ( 1 Cor. 15:23 ). Further we do hope that our sins which are many shall not be counted against us. But having been justified by faith we have peace with God in this life, and the next. Therefore,we hope for eternal life because God, who cannot lie, promised this before the world began. What does this mean? It means that before Genesis 1:1 , before God created the heavens and the earth, He had you in mind and He wanted you. The Father set his love upon you in His Son, and the Spirit together with Father and Son chose to write your name in The Book of Life never to be blotted out. And then having predestined you for salvation, the world was spoken into existence. This is how Paul can say in Ephesians 1:4-6 , “He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” What makes you acceptable to God? It is that you are found in His beloved Son. And this brings us to verse 3 which explains how the elect are united to the Son. How does this promise of God in eternity past become known to the saints such that we can believe? Verse 3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; This word preached ( logos ) can refer either to the Divine Word, the person of Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. Or it can refer to the word about Christ Jesus which is the good news of forgiveness in Him. Whatever the case, this Word is made known through preaching, and that preaching of the Word was given to Paul by “the commandment of God our Saviour.” Meaning, this religion we call Christianity, is not of human invention. It is the result of the Creator God commanding apostles and preachers to declare forgiveness in Christ with divine authority. Jesus Christ is Lord, and salvation is found by faith in Him. Peter says in Acts 4:12 , “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And as the Philippian Jailer asked in Acts 16:30-31 , “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” This is the preaching of the Word that God commanded. And if God commanded it, no man can stop it. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:9 , that while the world may lockup and chain the him in prison, “the word of God is not bound.” Even the Pharisee Gamaliel knew this was true. For he tells the Jews in Acts 5:38-39 , “Refrain from these men [referring to the apostles], and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest ye even be found to fight against God.” Here we are 2,000 years later, and Paul was right, and Gamaliel was right. Many enemies have tried to overthrow Christ, to fight against God, but they have not succeeded. Yes, there have been setbacks, yes, the church stumbles at times and needs to be reformed, but Jesus has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church. And so if we are His people, the sheep of his pasture, the garden in which he walks and resides, then we can be assured of His love and protection, His discipline and care. And the way Christ manifests that care is by calling and equipping elders to be his shepherds, his servants, his tenants, his gardeners who carry the water can (or a hose) and a pruning knife. And so we find in verses 4-5 that this job is assigned to Titus. To exercise apostolic authority in finding those men who can do that work faithfully. Verse 4 4To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. By this salutation Paul hands to Titus a three-fold shield in the Trinity. Grace, mercy and peace are all effects of the Holy Spirit. God the Father is the author and source of these graces. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one we call Savior. Paul also adds that Titus is his own son after the common faith, because unlike Timothy who was circumcised, he says in Galatians 2:3 , “But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” And so if there was any doubt about the unity of faith between Jews and Gentiles, Paul goes out of his way to emphasize this is a common/catholic faith. There is only “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” ( Eph. 4:5-6 ). Therefore, the faith that Paul preaches is the same faith Titus preaches, and this is the same faith of all God’s elect. Finally in verse 5, he explains the cause for Titus being in Crete. Verse 5 5For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: Next week we will dedicate a full sermon to this one verse because it describes what we call Presbyterian church government . But for now I want you to observe just one thing, and that is: see how important church government is to Paul, and therefore to Christ. According to this verse, a church without a qualified pastor that is answerable to a plurality of fellow pastors, is a church that is wanting/lacking/deficient. And this was such a big deal to Paul, that he left Titus, his own son in the faith, there in Crete until that work was accomplished. It was not enough to simply evangelize and start a church. It was essential to ordain qualified elders/presbyters to guard and keep it. Because what is the church? It is God’s most precious possession. It is His temple, His sanctuary, His bride, His glory, His new garden of Eden. Conclusion God so loves the church, and every member within it, that He has prescribed in His Word how he wants it to be governed and who he wants to govern it. We’ll see in future weeks that he commands a plurality of qualified men, a pastor together with what we call ruling elders, who tend and keep, water and weed God’s garden, so that it will be fruitful. Jesus speaks of this government in the parable of tenants where the Jewish elders who kill him, are kicked out and replaced by faithful tenants. Jesus says in Matthew 21:40-41 , “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants [who killed the owner’s son]?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Those new tenants are the apostles and their successors. And as elders and ministers of Christ we want you to be fruitful for your sake and God’s sake. Because the one who owns you, wants that spiritual fruit in every season. And so I close with words of the Lord Jesus who tells us you exactly how to become fruitful. He says in John 15:4 , “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” May God grant you to abide by faith in Jesus, with hope for eternal life, and with genuine love for all the saints. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

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Sermon: The Holy Trinity Pt. 3 - Faith Seeking Understanding 46:25

منذ 20 weeks46:25

46:25

The Holy Trinity Pt. 3 – Faith Seeking Understanding Sunday, June 15th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Deuteronomy 29:29 Prayer Father, we thank you for the mystery of our salvation, the mystery of who You are as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we seek now to understand just a small fragment of that mystery by studying the Scriptures, we ask for light to dispel the darkness of ignorance and sin. For we believe what the Lord Jesus taught saying, ‘blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ Grant us such purity and reverence for Your Word now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction For the last two Sundays, we have been attempting to climb the most difficult mountain in all of Christian doctrine. That is, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. How is God One, and yet Three in One? How are the three divine persons really distinct, and yet each the One Divine Essence. This has been our study and meditation for the last two weeks, and this morning since it is Trinity Sunday we shall have one more attempt at grasping this truth. Now whenever you are attempting something difficult and strenuous, it is helpful to remind yourself why you are doing this hard thing in the first place. I remember long ago sitting in my high school calculus class and wondering why am I here ? How is calculus going to help me get a job? What do derivatives have to do with my life? And because I did not have Professor O’Dell as my teacher, I dropped out of calculus, only to have to retake it later in college (even then I think I got a C). I imagine most of us in this room have a similar story, perhaps not with math but in some other area of life. If we don’t see or understand the reason why , the purpose of doing a hard thing, we are tempted to give up, or we never even try. And sadly, that is how a lot of people approach their relationship with God. They think that God is so high up there, and I am so low down here, the Bible is such a long and big book, and my attention span and memory is so short, therefore it would be either pride or presumption, folly or fruitless to attempt to try to really get to know Him. And indeed, there are many dangers to avoid if you want to know God. God himself warns of approaching Him without fear and reverence and humility. And yet, that high and glorious God has come down to us in Jesus Christ so that we might know him and have a real living personal relationship with him . Moreover, he has come down and sent the Holy Spirit into our very hearts. He has bequeathed to the church the Scriptures through which He invites us, nay commands us , to search him out and know Him. It says in Psalm 105:4 , “Seek the Lord, and his strength: Seek his face evermore.” And in Jeremiah 29:13 , “And ye shall seek me, and find me , when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Paul prays for the church in Colossians 1:10 , “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God .” Why do people climb mountains? Why do people attempt hard, dangerous, and difficult things? They do it for the glory. For the views from the top. If they are virtuous, for the formation of character. Even those who only do it for the thrill or the excitement or the vanity of social media have made a value judgment, that the risk is worth the reward, the pain is worth the payoff, the sacrifice is worth the investment. And so for good and biblical reasons it is most appropriate to liken the hard work of increasing in our knowledge of God (as Paul prays that we do) to the climbing up a mountain. When God created Adam and Eve, he placed them in a garden on a mountain from which four rivers flowed down. And we call the fall into sin a Fall, in part because we fell down that mountain of the knowledge of God and lost our intimate friendship with Him. And so later, when by grace God reveals his name to Moses (see Exodus 3, and Exodus 33), he reveals His name on a mountain . When God reveals His law and will to Israel, He does so from the mountain . When God commands a temple to be built for worship, he commands it to be built on a mountain . Where does Christ go to reveal his glory to Peter, James, and John? The mount of transfiguration. And most importantly, where was Jesus Christ crucified? From where did Jesus commission the apostles to baptize in the Triune Name? On a mountain. So this idea of ascending the mountain of God is a motif that runs from Genesis to Revelation. It acknowledges that we as sinners have fallen from grace, we are way down here in the valley of the shadow of death, and yet God by His grace calls us back to Himself. And therefore, this ascent to God is a most fitting theme to make your own, to explain the journey of your life. What is your autobiography? It is carrying a cross in Jesus’ footsteps, following him from one place to another. From the place that Jesus first loved you and converted you, to the place where you shall behold him on the mountaintop face to face. Summary: So returning to that initial question of why do a hard thing? Why climb the mountain of trying to know and understand God? Well, it should be for no other reason than that you love and value the God that came down and rescued you. You believe what Jesus says in John 17:3 , that eternal life consists in knowing the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and have no greater desire than that. And so this morning I want you to think of this sermon as a kind of group hike to the basecamp of Mount Rainier. I am going to give you two important rules (as your guide) so that you don’t die along the way, and then we’ll apply these two rules to a most important text on the Trinity, John 1:1 , “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Rule #1 – Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. First observe that God makes us to distinguish two kinds of things. There are secret things, and there are revealed things. Secret things are for God, revealed things are for us and our children. And so when it comes to knowing God, we need to remember where God Himself has set the boundaries, and then we need to to respect and honor those boundaries and not trespass beyond them. Amongst the many secret things are the particulars of the final judgment, who God predestined for salvation and who God leaves to their just punishment. It is not for you or I to know and judge the unseen thoughts and deeds of men. We refer that decision to the Creator, and with fear and trembling seek mercy for ourselves. Jesus says to Peter when he inquires about John’s destiny, “What is that to you? You follow me.” And then Peter having learned his lesson says in 2 Peter 1:10 , “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” In other words, instead of tying yourself in knots and doubts about whether you are predestined or not, attend to what God has revealed , which is for you to make your calling and election sure by adding virtue to your faith ( 2 Peter 1:5 ). Remember the whole purpose for which God has made things known. It is for us to do , to obey, to observe, to follow. And part of following Jesus is trusting that if He wanted you to know something, He would have told you in His Word. Moreover, if you are not presently obeying the things He has already revealed, why do you think knowing hidden things is going to help you? Too often we deceive ourselves into thinking that more and new knowledge will help us, when what we actually need is to just do and practice what we already have been told. Confess your sins, forgive one another, love your neighbor as yourself, etc. So that’s Rule #1. If God has not revealed it, you ought not to pry, you ought not ask (who are you O man to question God?). But if God has revealed it, then we must make it our own possession, pass it on to our children, and observe it with all our heart. Now amongst those things that God has revealed, He has told us that in this life we cannot know what the Divine Essence is (what God is essentially in Himself), we can only know what He is not by some creaturely analogies about Him . And this brings us to Rule #2. Rule #2 – God is always greater than what your mind can grasp. It says in Job 36:26 , “Behold, God is great, and we know him not, Neither can the number of his years be searched out.” And in Psalm 145:3 , “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.” You and I cannot grasp eternity, the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. God says in Isaiah 55:8-9 , “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.” So whatever likeness or similitude there is between us and God, there is always an ever-greater dissimilitude. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:16 , “He alone hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” And in Romans 11:33 , “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” God is far greater than you presently think He is. And even when the Bible tells us something like God is love or God is good , even that falls short of the love and goodness that God actually is, because you and I have never met anyone or anything whose very being and essence is love and goodness. What in us is a quality added to our being, that we are good sometimes and loving sometimes, is in God essentially and supereminently. This is why Jesus says in Luke 18:19 , “No one is good but One, that is, God.” That is, God has goodness in an infinitely higher mode. What we call good down here is only an analogy to God’s all surpassing goodness up there. Paul says likewise about love in Ephesians 3:19-20 , I pray that you may “know the love of Christ, which surpasseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Notice, the love of Christ, the love that is God and His power to do, far surpasses our knowledge. And therefore, whenever we say any creaturely perfection of God (like God is love or goodness or unity or power), remember that God’s mode of having those things far exceeds what we can comprehend. Just as a worm in the mud cannot understand human love or romance, or the joys of marriage, or even what a human being is, because a worm has no eyes or ability to reason, just so, the distance between God and us is even greater than that. Compared to God, we are as blind worms in the mud. And yet God speaks to worms in Isaiah 41:14 , “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, And thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” How has God helped us? He became a man in Christ. And so if you can imagine becoming a worm to help worms, that is less than the distance God crossed to become man. And it is that distance between Creator and creature that makes the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh, into the most unfathomable act of grace and self-giving. Can you believe God did that!? Would you become a worm for worm’s sake? God became a man for man’s salvation. One of the signs that you are starting to make progress in your knowledge of God is that you start to empty yourself out for others. You think, If God has poured out his life to love and forgive me, when I was still a sinner, then I must certainly give my life for others; even if they don’t appreciate it or ever say thank you. In fact, it is an honor to be poured out like a drink offering upon the altar, to be identified with Christ and his sufferings. And so the truth abouts God’s greatness and the distance He crossed to come and get us, should move us to great acts of devotion towards Him, which then spill over into the lives of others. How can we every repay such abundant grace? The Apostle John says in 1 John 4:20-21 , “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” And so loving each other is part of climbing the mountain with Jesus. Some people are hard to love. But look in the mirror, you are hard to love, and yet Jesus loves you. This is the gospel. That God so loved us, that He sent His only begotten Son. Not because we were lovely, on the contrary we were anything but. And yet He came down to change us and make us worthy of being united to Him. “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” And this brings us to our third and final part of the sermon which is, How can you know and love what you cannot see? Part #3 – Faith Seeking Understanding The answer to this question is by faith seeking understanding. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 , “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” And in Hebrews 11:3 , “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Now let’s now apply this principle of faith seeking to understand who God is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to our first rule, is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit a secret thing, or is it a truth He has revealed? Obviously, we must answer that God has revealed this truth to us in Christ, and the Apostles recorded this truth for us in the New Testament. Therefore, we must believe this truth to be saved, and we ought to seek some understanding insofar as God’s Word has made this mystery known. At the same time, we must remember Rule #2, that God is always greater than our minds can comprehend. And therefore, if we want to understand how there are three distinct persons in God and yet all the One God, we are going to need some creaturely analogy to help us see what is similar to God, while also acknowledging that ever-greater dissimilitude. That is the move that keeps us out of heresy while also giving us some imperfect analogical understanding of who it is we love. This brings us to John 1:1 , a verse that all of us believe and most are familiar with but is hard to understand. So let’s try by faith. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. First observe that there is both a distinction and an identity between the Word and God. Two distinct subjects, and yet both identified with each other. How can this be? John has given us a clue by using this word Word (in Greek logos ). He wants us to think about what a Word is because that is the analogy He is going to develop in his Gospel to describe three distinct persons who are all the One God. So what is a word? There is the external word that is spoken by our mouth and heard with the ears. But what do our external words reflect within us? Our external words reflect some idea or concept or definition in our mind which we then communicate to others. And so before any external word comes out of our mouth, there is first some interior word that proceeds from our mind, and which we say is conceived/begotten by our intellect. For example, if you are walking down the street and see a dog, and you look closely and identify that this dog is a Golden Retriever, what you have just done is conceived a definition in your mind by an act of understanding. And we call that definition that proceeds from an act of understanding an interior word, or the word of the heart. Put another way, this is you talking to yourself in your head. And it is that internal word conceived in your mind that is the beginning for John’s analogy about the Trinity. So let’s develop this analogy further and see how it is both similar and dissimilar to the Word in God. 1. Both our word and God’s Word are invisible and immaterial. You cannot see God, and I cannot see your thoughts. You cannot touch God, I cannot touch your thoughts. 2. Both our word and God’s Word proceed from some principle. For us it is our intellect from which an interior word is generated, and in God the principle is the Father from whom this Word proceeds. BTW: The name of that internal procession from the Father is called Generation, or as John 3:16 calls Jesus, “the only begotten Son.” That begetting of the Son internal to God is like your intellect begetting an interior word. 3. Both our word and God’s Word are really distinct from their principle. The definition you conceive in your mind is a concept really distinct from yourself, and yet it is also inside of yourself. And likewise, the Word conceived in the mind of God is really distinct and yet also internal to God. So thus far we have an analogy for a Word that is internal, invisible, immaterial, proceeds from a principle, and is really distinct from that principle. What is left then is to find an analogy for how that Word is also of the same nature as that Principle, because John says, “the Word was God.” Here is where we start to notice some major dissimilarities between the word in us, and the Word in God. So to understand this, start by thinking in your mind about yourself. Who are you? What are you? Do you fully understand yourself? Can you comprehend your own essence and being, your body and soul, your unique personality such that in one word you can define and explain who you are? Can you generate an exhaustive concept of yourself (a definition) that fully expresses to others your entire being? No. But God can. Whereas we need many words to express who we are because our knowledge of ourselves is so imperfect and fragmented, God on the other hand understands Himself perfectlyand all in one single and eternal act of understanding. And from that perfect comprehension of His own essence, proceeds a Word that perfectly expresses that essence, so much so that it is the Divine Essence. This is what John means when he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There is a real distinction of persons, and a real identify of essence. One of the most fundamental rules of theology is the maxim whatever is in God is God. So perfections that are distinct powers and accidental qualities in us, like knowing, willing, wisdom and beauty, are in God all the one divine essence. There are no real distinction in God, only a real distinction between the three persons. So if there is anything internal to God, like a Word in the Beginning with the Father, that Word must necessarily be the Divine Essence itself. This is how we speak of both a real distinction between persons while also affirming a real identify of essence. The relations we call Father, Son, and Spirit just are the Divine Essence, and distinct only from one another (by mutual opposition). Conclusion What makes the truth about this Word in God that is God even more amazing, is what John tells us about this Word in the verses that follow. He goes on to say in verses 9-14, that this Word is also a Light, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” The more you know and understand the greatness of God, the more you will be amazed and humbled and moved to worship by the Incarnation of that God. So will you receive this grace and truth from the Eternal Word made flesh? For he invites you to follow him all the way up the mountain, and He promises that the views are worth it. You shall see the glory of God, and live. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.…

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