In the sermon 'Sound Doctrine for Older Men' by Scott Brown, the focus is on the instructions given by Paul in Titus 2:1-2 for older men in the church. Paul emphasizes qualities such as sobriety, reverence, temperance, and being sound in faith, love, and patience. The sermon highlights the importance of sound doctrine that is not only understood theoretically but also applied practically in life, creating a transformative culture within the church and society. The message contrasts biblical masculinity, which involves responsibility and godliness, with cultural misconceptions and pagan influences. The sermon underscores the role of older men as examples for younger generations, stressing that no one is too old to learn and grow. It also draws parallels to historical transformations, such as the influence of St. Patrick in Ireland, and encourages focusing on truth over cultural outrage.

Please open to those wonderful words of life. In Titus 2, I'll be reading the first two verses in Titus 2. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey, word of God. Titus 2 verse 1, but as for you speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine that the older men be sober reverent temperate sound in faith in love in patience The grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray.

Lord we thank you for these words to to take us on to mature us to help us in our walk to teach us faith and duty like we just sang. I pray Lord that you would bless all of us with the acquisition of all these things that you desire in us. Amen. Please be seated. So these two verses before us, Paul is instructing Titus to teach older men to live in a certain way, actually to live in the truth that accords with godliness as he has previously said.

This is manhood on display. Manhood and womanhood are maligned and disfigured in our culture but here we get a picture of it. But it's interesting when you ponder and meditate on the things that the apostle Paul is calling for here. He's really describing a deliberate, quiet man who's under control, it's this quiet life of mature and deliberate behavior that the Apostle Paul is calling for Titus to teach and this is the type of thing that changes the culture of a church because as we know the culture of Titus was a wreck. The culture of Titus in Crete was a wreck and so what Paul is doing is he's explaining this doctrine of masculinity and the practical applicable teaching of Scripture that really transforms men and it's a very critical thing.

Paul is teaching through various stages of life here in this section. Here he's talking about older men but then he moves to others. The Bible speaks to your station in life, whatever it might be, whether you're a child or whether you're an old person here as we have in this passage. What we learned from this is no one ages out of correction. No matter how old you are you might need to be reminded of something.

And what the Apostle Paul does here is he in the chapter as it flows forward he's talking about five different classes of people. They're older men, that's where our focus is this morning. And then you have older women in verse three of chapter two, and then you have younger women in chapter two verses four and five and then you have younger men in verses six through eight and then nine through ten you speaks of bond servants laborers those who are under some kind of authority in in labor at the same time the Bible really speaks of two categories of people, older and younger. And there's no weird adolescent phase, okay? You're either older or you're younger.

And the purposes of this section are stated very clearly, track with me on this. In verse 5, the purpose is that the Word of God may not be blasphemed. In other words, if a man or a woman or a boy or a girl is walking discordantly to this, it causes things that are done that cause the word of God to be blasphemed. And then the second purpose clauses in verse eight, these are purpose clauses, verse eight, and this is regarding young men, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you. That's for young men.

And then the third is in verse 10, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And so Paul is showing Titus what kinds of things that he should be teaching in order to shape the character of that church. Now remember remember Titus is receiving this letter in the in some time in the in the 60s in the first century. It's he writes this Paul writes this between first and second Timothy Paul is at the end of his life and he is he is trying to secure the church it'll only It will be a very short time before Paul's head is taken off by the Roman government. But he knows his days are coming short.

And so I think what he's doing is he's trying to secure the integrity of the church, the functionality of the church, and how everyone in the church functions. And he's writing to Titus, who's a pastor on this beautiful island in the Aegean Sea, where all men are liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. That's where he is being sent. And what the apostle Paul is doing is he's showing Titus how to create a new culture within this messed up culture. That's what God does.

He creates these micro cultures. He creates the culture of your family. That's a small culture, but it has tremendous effect maybe for a thousand generations. Then he creates the culture of a church, small gatherings of local churches. Those are small cultures, but their people scatter about and they take the goodness of God that they've experienced in the congregation.

Titus was charged to set in in order the things that were lacking so there are things that were out of order in that church that needed to be brought into order. The culture of Crete was out of order And this is what God does. He places cultures of biblical order in the midst of out of order cultures. And this is how God has worked all along. We just saw St.

Patrick's Day go by us. But you see the same thing in the history of Ireland in the fourth century with Patrick. I was in the coffee shop in Wake Forest this week and there was this cute family that walked in and they were dressed up all in green. I'm talking about green hats, green shirts, green ties, green shoes. Everything they had was green.

It was a father and a mother and their two kids. And I was in line right next to the little boy and I said do you know what Patrick did in Ireland that caused us to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? He said no I don't. I said he told everybody about Jesus.

That's what that's what St. Patrick's Day is really all about. He didn't really know that. But the true story of Patrick in Ireland is really a story of transformation. It's a remarkable story.

Patrick was born as a Roman citizen in Britain in the around 380, but at age 16, he was taken captive and enslaved by Irish traders that came over to Britain and they took him to Ireland. And he was 16 years old at that time. And he was purchased by a Druid chieftain in the midst of this really barbaric culture, including child sacrifice. It was a very messed-up culture. And there was this 16-year-old boy, and he was an unbeliever at that time.

Thomas Cahill wrote a book called How the Irish Saved Civilization. He writes this, the Romans in their first encounters were exposed to insane warriors. They were shocked and frightened. They were howling and seemed possessed by demons. So outrageous was their strength.

It featured the terrors of hell itself. So this was a culture maybe a little bit like the culture of Crete that Titus entered into. So Patrick was a slave for six years but toward the end he then he escaped and he went back to his homeland. The Druids were just obsessed with death and Satanism and and Patrick was an unbeliever when he landed in Ireland but toward the end he he became a Christian the Lord moved his heart and then so he's he's now he's 22 he escapes back to Britain and then so from age 22 to age 40, we don't know much about what happened to him, but when he was 40 years old, he returned to Ireland and thousands were converted. He went there specifically to preach the gospel.

Churches were planted. The Irish tribalism really came under the effect of Christianity. The slave trade ended. Violence nearly went away. And by the fifth through the seventh century, Christianity displaced Druid paganism, and there was some sense of Christian culture, certainly, you know, not perfect everywhere, but there was a dramatic change by this one man who at age 40 went.

He preached there from age 40 until he was in his early 70s and then he died. Just so you know, Patrick didn't drive the snakes out of Ireland. There never were any snakes and he didn't use the shamrock to illustrate the Trinity, okay, just so you know that. So, but when we when we get to this text we find kind of a similar thing because you have this corrupt culture in Crete that Titus is sent to minister and then you have this new kind of culture. So look at verse 1.

The first thing you notice in these words in verse 1 is, but as for you, Notice the striking contrast. Paul has just been telling Titus that he needs to rebuke the false teachers because they're really destroying their culture. But then he says, but as for you, in other words, you're not going to teach, you're going to do something different here than what you see. Don't be like them, rather rebuke them. And he is to set in order the things which are lacking.

And we learn in chapter one how this happens it's the truth it's the truth that transforms chapter one verse one and two the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life This is the great contrast that Titus is being commanded to carry out there in Crete. And the Word of God is the instrument. We spent our time the last time in Titus focusing on this one principle, holding fast to the faithful word. Holding fast like just the hardest you can grip yourself on the Word of God. And the purpose is stated here in chapter 2 verse 10 that they may adorn the doctrine.

So that's the message that we have here and he is addressing transformation that it begins in the human heart, it extends to the family, and then into the church, and then into broader society. That's really the whole picture that we see being painted here in the book of Titus. So here he's focusing on older men in these first two verses and it's very easy to see what Titus is commanded to inspire. He's really commanded to inspire a faithful Christian man in that culture and this is really the call of every culture to recover the beautiful plain ordinary the thing they're not they're not gonna get you to go viral, they're just the things that are good. They're good for you, they're good for your family, they're good for your church, and they're good for everybody else around.

And this happens through practical instruction. That's what we find here. The doctrine is meant to be lived out. He's talking about the particular doctrine for men and this creates a culture. When men come under the order of God, they change the cultures around them.

I think that's why Abraham Kuyper said that culture is religion externalized. And if your religion is not externalized, it's not true religion. And what this, I think, also says is that the church isn't simply a depository of theological propositions. It's not just a seminary where you get your head filled with facts, but it's a place where the doctrine is applied, where you see it operating in everyday life. And there's a difference between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Orthodoxy is right thinking. We should have that. Orthopraxy is right living, but both of those are joined together in Scripture. And you can see it beautifully joined together in these first two verses. You know orthodoxy without orthopraxy is dead religion.

It's not true religion. So notice the next words here that that he should speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. So this terminology, sound doctrine, is pivotal in these verses and he's using this terminology of sound more than once here in this letter and in other places in the New Testament. But sound, what does that mean? It means healthy, healthy doctrine, something that gives life, something that actually manifests itself in life.

And this is a principle for all believers, but it's also a principle for church pastors because pastors do not have the luxury to just speak of doctrine that doesn't apply to life. Pastors don't have the luxury to just give the facts and to just walk through the data and dump and do a data dump on their people. They've got to somehow help their people learn how to live. And that's something that's difficult but it's necessary. But what you should find in your church pastors is that they're at least attempting to teach you how to apply the doctrine.

That the doctrine comes first but the application always must be commingled with it and so he's saying speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. Now there's another way to think about this. You have the root. You have the root that's like the doctrine and then you have the tree. You have the outgrowth.

You know You have the root and the fruit. And the Bible uses illustrations like this. You have the foundation and then you have the building. You have the hearing and you have the doing. You have the house that's built on the rock, right?

You have the house that's built on the commands of God and it stands because there's something real there that stands against the waves and the wind that are blowing against it. So Paul is focusing Titus on the truth and he wants the people in Crete to focus in on what is true, particularly here regarding manhood. So both are necessary, but it's very important to focus yourself on the truth. That's what he's saying, the things which are accord to truth. And I just want to use this opportunity to encourage you know you as parents to focus your children on the truth that you fill their minds with the truth you know we memorized this some time ago 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's any virtue and if there's anything praise worthy meditate on these things in other words saturate your families with the truth and it's this is so important raise your children to know what's right before God more of what's right before God than what is wrong with the world.

You can spend your time talking about and worrying about everything that's wrong with the world and there's a lot wrong with the world. But if they know what is right, and their hearts are attracted to what is right, they'll know what is wrong, and they can detect it. And they'll be able to discern. But we live in a world where it's so easy to get obsessed with what's wrong in the world. This is this is sort of the the heart of what you might call outrage culture.

People are always outraged about this or that, and there's a lot to be outraged about. And of course social media is a holding tank for outrage culture. And it's so easy to spend your time, your mind, your mind share all wrapped up in you know the latest controversy of the week and and but here's here's what I'm trying to say. If all you think about and all you talk about is what's wrong, then you've gotten distracted from the truth. And what happens to people is they end up spending an enormous amount of their lives distracted by the next conspiracy theory.

And that's a danger. And so it's critical that you fill your mind up with the truth. But we live in a world that's just pulling at us to focus our minds on what's wrong with the world. You know what's wrong with the world. And what happens with people is that they end up spending all kinds of time online learning what's wrong with the world, arguing with people that they don't know about things that they can't do anything about.

So focus on the truth. This is the doctrine that accords with the truth. Fill your minds with the truth and don't raise kids who are obsessed with what's wrong with the world. Raise kids that know what's true and they see the beauty of it. So this is sound doctrine for older men.

And you see this in verse 2, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. And you know, who is he speaking about here? Older men, aged men, maybe 50, 55 and above, something like that, and He uses this terminology in different places. Matthew Henry says this, those who are full of years should be full of grace and goodness, the inner man renewing more and more as the outer man decays. That happens by the way the outer man does decay but this is the this is the grace that transforms older men.

Here's here's something that we need to really understand about this. This assumes that an old dog can learn new tricks. Okay? Some of you old dogs out there, I see you. I guess there's one over here, there's four over there.

But you can learn new tricks. You can sharpen up some of these things that are here. And Titus is charged to teach the older men to focus on the truth and to exemplify what is called sound doctrine. The stages of life are real. And here in this passage he speaks to all different categories of people.

And He's holding up qualities for older men. And these qualities, we'll learn later in Titus 2, these are the qualities that younger men should emulate. And younger women should emulate. And older women should emulate, because the same terminology runs through. And younger men and women should emulate the older and wiser men and women there and their manner of life and in the occupations of their hearts and their time.

Moses uses some graphic language to illustrate this. I'm talking to you younger men and women right now. Younger men and women need to be really clear about something really important. You should look up for your wisdom, not sideways or down. You should look to mature people for your wisdom.

Moses uses some really graphic language to illustrate this in Leviticus 19 verse 32. You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man and fear your God. I am the Lord. Job said something very similar that age really matters Job 12 12 wisdom is with aged men and with length of days understanding and Peter he tells us that younger people should listen to older people, 1 Peter 5. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." So are you a proud young person? You're wise in your own eyes, you don't listen to your elders, and you know you're especially hardened to the voice of boomers, okay, of which I am chief in this room. But let me, I do recognize that boomers really destroyed our culture, okay. It was my generation that caused so much harm that we're feeling the effects of today. But that's not the same thing as looking up to older and wiser men.

A lot of times, you young people, you respect the wrong people, and you listen to the wrong people. You listen to your peers, and some of you need to stop listening to your peers and start listening to your elders. Some of your elders are actually podcasters out there, not your real elders, not the ones that actually look you in the eye and that's not good for you. But at the same time older men are not above correction and that's implicit in this passage of Scripture. So welcome to the exhortation you know all of us older men.

Years ago, I bought an old book. It's a 1688 book written by an English Puritan by Richard Steele and it was called a discourse concerning, I'm gonna read you the whole title. A discourse concerning old age, tending to an instruction, caution, and comfort of aged persons, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity and patience. And he, it's a long book. I might probably I actually I have intended for about 15 years to republish this book.

I might do it. But he speaks of many of the sins of old age. He lists them talkativeness, harshness, arrogance, covetousness, envy, unteachableness, And then he goes at length talking about the problems of old age and he he talks about that beauty is decreased. I'm just quoting chapter titles. Faculties are weakened.

Pain is experienced. They are disabled from service. All these things happen in old age and life changes. But Steel has this remarkable book. But at the same time, you don't age out of cleaving to sound doctrine.

You don't age out of being corrected. And so he's talking about healthy doctrine. So let's talk about the sound doctrine for older men. There are seven qualities you see them listed in there. That the older men be sober.

Now this can relate to both sobriety in terms of drunkenness and also sobriety in terms of life, just sober-minded about life. The Bible says be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. What are you being controlled by? What's actually governing your thoughts and your emotions? Is it Paul in Ephesians 5 saying is it wine or is it the Holy Spirit?

What is having an influence on you? And so this language that he's using is the language of a military guard, that kind of sober-mindedness where you are watchful, you're clear-minded, you're not distracted by trivial things, You've got your eyes on the right target. But it's interesting, this quality of sober, it's applied to everyone in Titus. Here we have it in the previous chapter of Titus 1 8 it was applied to an elder he is sober and here in verse 2 the aged men must be sober and in verse 4 the older women are to teach the younger women to be sober and then in Titus 2 6 the young men also eggs are exhorted to be sober minded and then in Titus 2 12 he says that we all should live soberly and righteously so this sobriety is not just only a quality of all four old men it's really for all people and I think what he's possible that he's implying is that you can learn this from the older men because they have more experience with it. So sober-minded.

And sound doctrine makes an older man sober-minded. It's this healthy doctrine. This sobriety makes him healthy as a man and it does the same for a woman and it does the same for everybody. The second is reverent. And the language that he's using means lofty.

It implies majesty and greatness and weight. The Greeks use this word to speak of a throne. You know, Plutarch used it of music. It's just, it's reverent. You're familiar with the term gravitas, you know.

Gravitas is the quality of seriousness and dignity. It's a composed disposition in a person's bearing. It's a sense of confidence without arrogance. And many of you knew my dad. I think my dad was like this.

He wasn't a morose, unhappy person, but he had a sense of, he wasn't a big talker. He was actually funny a lot of the time but when people when when he spoke guess what happened people listened and the room would kind of go quiet and you know if you're if you're really old you'll remember this ad for EF Hutton in the 70s it was a commercial yeah fun was a investment brokerage house and the commercial was when EF Hutton talks people listen. That was kind of like my dad and man I miss him. But in This word in the pastoral epistles in Timothy and Titus is used three times and it's always among requirements of those who are leaders in churches and then here it's of all men. There's this calm resolve.

Do you have that men? Do you have that gravity and that dignity? Matthew Henry says they should be composed and stayed, grave in habit, speech and in behavior. And then Henry says, but the gaudiness in dress and levity and vanity in their behavior, how unbecoming it is for their years. In other words, older men should act like older men that's okay.

The third is temperate. The third quality is temperate. Now this is similar to sober and he's talking about an emotionally steady person. It's about level headedness. And by the way, self-restraint is a fruit of the spirit.

And it's very sad to see an old man get hotheaded and blow up. It's very sad. He should know better. He's been around long enough to know the world's not falling apart when something happens. But you have this self mastery of a man and he's not ruled by his impulses.

He's actually ruled by the word of God. That's what's governing his reactions to things. This is a blessing to have his emotions are under control. And this happens in relationships all the time where people's emotions get out of control. It happens with church members between church members, it happens between husbands and wives, it happens it happens between pastors and their congregation as well.

Last week Michael Foster wrote an article he called it this the three stages of a pastor congregant relationship. I thought it was brilliant because he really speaks of often he speaks of what often happens between people who lose a sense of temperance in their thinking about one another. And he says there's this predictable relational arc between pastors and the congregation. And it also happens, he didn't say this in the article, but it also happens between people in the church as well. And he says, he talks about these three stages of the pastor-congregant relationship.

And I think this matter of temperance is really important in this whole matter he says at first at first the pastor is admired it's kind of a honeymoon stage he he seemed he seems to be the person, the pastor they've been looking for, you know. The church they've been looking for, this amazing church. And this stage usually lasts, you know. Sometimes it's really short, like we have this joke, you know, among pastors, what's the mean time between the person who says that was the the new person who comes your church they say that was the best sermon I've ever heard what's the mean time between the person says that and the time they stomp out of the church hot as fire, right? What's that time?

You know because usually they just have too high a view of things. They have too high a view of the church, too high a view of the pastor, and people do that in relationships too. And Foster says this stage lasts three to five years. And then the second stage is disappointment sets in. And this stage grows over time.

The congregant sees flaws, thinks that they don't agree with everything. You know, he might have said something offensive in counseling or he might have done something that was just, maybe it was dumb actually. And so they either at this point when disappointment sets in, either the relationship matures into genuine love or just collapses into resentment and into rejection. And by the way, if you're not willing to accept that as a pastor, then just get out of the ministry because it's gonna happen. It happens to every pastor.

And Foster says, the fanboys become haters. I thought that was quite cogent. But what happened by the time the pastor learns that this is happening, it's usually it's been going on for a long time and by the time and then and then somebody they're gonna show up and they're saying we're gonna leave the church but it's just too late because it's just been going on for a long time under the surface. But you know there was some blind spot in the pastor. This also happens with women.

Women get all excited sometimes and they get disillusioned over something. It can happen with pastors and their wives and the pastor's wife just wasn't what they thought she should be And the truth is she's only what she can be. Pastors are only what they are and can be. And so are you and so am I. So are I.

But this happens between church members as well. They meet and they're excited and then they sort of dim out a little bit you know over time but they they just need to realize they need to have the temperance of a disposition that understands that Christians have blind spots and And God has all of his children on a trajectory. And sometimes it's a jagged trajectory. That's the way it is. It's that way with you and me.

But temperance, I think is helpful in this relational arc that happens and hopefully hopefully people get through the disappointment phase into into maturity where they just understand that you have responsibilities to love one other to have to be patient with one another, to forgive one another. And that's what long-suffering, you know, is all about. That's why we have 1st Corinthians 13. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.

Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks the best, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. So this matter of temperance is something that holds people together. It's such an important quality.

It's this level-headedness about life and about people and about the relationships that you're in. Well the next is sound in faith. Now literally it's sound in the faith. It's not faith. Faith is something different than the faith.

In other words, he is sound in the faith. He is sound in his understanding of this faith which we call the Christian faith. The doctrine of God, the sufficiency of Scripture, the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, that this person is sound in the faith. An older person should be a person who is more sound in the faith than they were five years, ten years, twenty years before. There should be a growth process that goes on.

Old people never outgrow the need to grow and to fill their minds with the Word of God. Doesn't matter how old you are, you still need to continue to fortify your soundness in the faith. This is a doctrinally stable man who holds fast to the truth. He's not dead reckoning his way through life. He's really guided by that North Star in the Word of God.

And he does it daily. He never outgrows the need to fill his heart with the Word of God. And then you have sound in the love it's the love again it's the the definite article is before it sound it not just in love but the love that I think that just makes it big right he's a he's a first Corinthians 13 kind of man and he understands how to obey the relational commands of the Bible because you know what? The relational commands of the Bible can get you through any troubled relationship in your life. It teaches you how to handle it and how to talk about it.

But this is sound in love and then and then finally sound in again the patience. This is this steadiness, this is this long-suffering faithful man steady through the disappointments, steady and understanding what's going on around you, using the Word of God to interpret what's going on around you. You know, all of these things are really culturally transforming, And they were in Crete. And I think we need to realize the era that this was written, that all these things were happening. Paul is really calling for an alteration of manhood culture on the island of Crete, which was very much affected by Greek culture.

Alexander the Great had conquered really the world, and Alexander the Great had created a patriarchal culture, but it was a pagan patriarchal culture not a biblical patriarchal culture. Women were despised, women were just used, you know there was nothing of the biblical picture of manhood toward womanhood and you had these domineering men who would just throw women away they did not nourish and cherish their women this was it was a culture where manhood was out of order. The Greek view of manhood exalted homosexuality. You know, it was kind of, it was kind of an Andrew Tate form of masculinity. This kind of masculinity is evil.

So this picture of manhood that we're seeing here was culturally different in so many ways. And that's what happens when the Word of God comes into a heart, into a church, into a town. It changes that culture and it happens quietly through sober-minded men and women and young men and young women. That's really the teaching of Titus chapter 2. So all this just to say the most powerful cultural force, maybe it's something you wouldn't expect, It's just ordinary Christians living ordinary lives according to the Word of God.

Ordinary men who are masculine in the sense of the words that are here in Titus. Men who take responsibility for themselves, men who are governed by God, men who embrace sound doctrine for their manhood even even into old age. This is the ordinary Christian life. First of all sober, second reverent, third temperate, Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in patience. This is the manhood that God desired to cultivate on the island of Crete, and he desires to cultivate it on the island of this church.

Would you pray with me? Lord, thank you for these sound words, these healthy words for all of us. Pray that you would help us to take to heart whatever we need this morning. Amen.