In his sermon 'Patterns of Good Works,' Scott Brown emphasizes the importance of patterns in shaping a godly life, as outlined in Titus 2:6-7. The sermon focuses on the concept of 'pattern,' which refers to habits and routines that define our daily lives and influence others. Brown highlights six specific patterns or habits of virtue: good works, teaching, reverence, incorruptibility, speech, and irreproachability. He underscores the idea that our lives are not shaped by singular, radical experiences but by consistent daily habits. The sermon also reflects on the life of Jim Zeiss, whose exemplary patterns left a profound impact on many. Brown argues that the church should foster a culture where older generations teach the younger, creating a new community with godly patterns. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that these patterns are rooted in the life of Jesus Christ and that Christians are called to follow and replicate these patterns, thus transforming the culture around them.

Titus 2 verse 6. It's such a consolation It's such a consolation that this is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey, Word of God. Titus 2 verse 6. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed having nothing evil to say of you. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would come and give us wisdom from heaven about the patterns, the habits of our lives, these beautiful things that really arise out of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord come and equip the saints. Pray oh Lord that you would help us to turn from our sins and that you would also embolden us to walk into ways that you have given. Amen.

Please be seated. The title of this sermon is Patterns of Good Works. The focus really here is a particular word. The key word that I want us to ponder in the next few minutes is the word pattern, the word pattern. And I really believe this this word summarizes the teaching.

He says it like this, in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works. And the heart of the teaching, the heart of what I want us to really consider this morning, is to do a double take on our patterns, our habits, the things that make our daily life work, your own habits in your marriage, your own habits in your family life, your habits in raising your children, you know all of these things form these patterns that are that are godly and there are there six patterns or six habits of virtue that are identified here in this passage of Scripture. But here's what I want us to see in this passage first of all this is the pattern and then follow the pattern and then become the pattern I think that's really the the flow of thinking that the apostle has for us. In other words, first of all, you embrace the pattern as your own and live it out. And second, you actually become a manifestation of it and then you replicate that pattern in the various areas of life that you're engaged in.

So that's the force of this. It's not a question of whether you will follow a pattern. We are all following patterns. It's not a question of whether we will imitate something. We are imitating something, but what is it that we imitate?

What is it that shapes the patterns that we have? Because everything really is a byproduct of habits. Everything is really a product, not of radical, you know, once-in-a-lifetime changes. It's not a result of, you know, big emotional gripping moments, not radical experiences. Our lives really are shaped by our patterns, by our daily repetitive habits.

And The word that the apostle uses for pattern is a very interesting word in the Greek language. It's a word where we get our word type. It's the word tupos and It means to make an impression. And it was a word that described the minting of a coin. You know, you have a die that slams down on a host and shapes a coin with the images.

So a type is an impression. So there's an impression that's made and it describes this blow of one object onto another, like making a coin, like making an impression on a coin and the big question is what's making its mark on you and me and what kind of mark are you making on others this really is it's it's It's the blow of the gospel on a person's life, the impact, the impression of the gospel. So that's the framing of this. Now before we dive into the text, I just want to do a little bit of review of where we're at in Titus. If you remember Paul is writing this at the end of his life he's going to be beheaded by the Roman authorities in probably a matter of months.

He's writing this short letter to really secure the integrity of the church and its operation in that culture. He sends Titus, the Apostle Paul does, a trusted friend and helper for many, many years, maybe 20 years already, and he's sending Titus into a very difficult culture, the culture of Crete. This beautiful Greek island had a really ugly culture. And the culture was was specifically cited, all Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Welcome to Crete, okay?

It was a messed up culture. All cultures are messed up. All of our cultures are messed up. And so the apostle Paul is sending Titus to create a different kind of culture in that church in that island and and he's he's already spoken of how this happens it it first it first of all it happens by holding fast to the word of God. Remember Eliezer, whose hands were frozen to the sword.

That's the idea, holding fast to the word of God. And he's writing to the elect, He's writing to the saints there who grew up in this culture of Crete. You know, we all grow up in these weird cultures and we spend the rest of our lives trying to get unhooked from some of the dumb patterns that we learned, some of the dumb impressions, you know, that came upon us as a result of our life. But a lot of this teaching all throughout has to do with what you are teaching, what the saints are teaching, what the elders are teaching, what the young men are teaching, what the old men are teaching, what the older women are teaching. It has to do with what is being taught.

And what we've learned so far is that the older men are to be teaching the younger men, the older women are to be teaching the younger women, and that shapes this this culture and the details we are already you know covered. And it actually pictures, it pictures really an age integrated church where the generations are worshipping God together, they're learning together, they're teaching one another with the older women teaching the younger women and so forth and the generations are gathered together that's that's how you create a beautiful culture The church in the 20th century embraced a stupid idea. They segregated the generations in the church and it was no help at all. And it's actually time to abandon an invention of the 20th century and actually recover the generational fabric of the church. So and the Apostles making it very clear that you can't ignore the importance of young people in the church.

That's really where revivals begin in almost every revival that I read about in history. And so the apostle has been teaching about how young people should operate with this sober mindedness. The older men are to teach the younger men to be sober-minded. And we talked about this fact that a sober-minded young person, it operates like a turbocharger in an engine. It takes that power and multiplies it, that power of youth, like a rocket booster.

That's what sober-mindedness does. And but then when so that's verse 6 and then when you get to verse 7 there's there's there's a change in verses 7 and 8 he explains what kind of example he should be to everyone and and so and this is how it's Paul's desire to explain what this sober minded mindedness looks like and he's defining it in these six things that he examines here and what Paul is talking about is the impression of the gospel literally the the blow of the gospel and what it really looks like and what kind of example it makes a real Christian. There's something to follow. Now I just returned yesterday from a funeral of one of my dear friends in St. Louis, Jim Zeiss.

He was a man that I served with on the board, first of all, of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches and then what is now church and family life. He was one of my best friends. I was so thankful for this man. But at the funeral service, his life was flashed before my eyes. Jim and I, we worked for the last quarter of the century together, really for the reformation of biblical order in the church and biblical order in the family.

It's such a hard loss. He was my age. He was just one year older than I am. We actually, he owned a hotel in St. Louis and we launched what was probably the launch of the family integrated church movement in America 25 years ago.

And cancer was discovered a very short time ago. He didn't feel good And then just a couple months later, he's dead to the surprise of everyone. Even his family did not think he was gonna die so quickly. He left behind him, his dear wife and three daughters. But that's not all.

Jim Zeiss made an impression on hundreds and hundreds of young men. He had three daughters and no sons and you would not believe how many of his sons in the faith stood up at that funeral and said that was my spiritual father. That man taught me how to be a husband. That man taught me how to be a man. That man taught me how to be a husband.

That man taught me how to be a man. That man taught me how to manage my money. And of course, if you knew Jim Zeiss, that man taught me how to buy real estate. That was Jim Zeiss. But Jim actually, first of all, he was an evangelist.

And his life was making an impression on men. And he just did it in the most winsome, carefree, he was really funny. I just so appreciated him. You know, some of you know Robert Ziegler, right? Robert Ziegler ended up here in this church because of Jim Zeiss.

Robert went to a pro-life event put on by Operation Save America where he met Flip Benham and he met Jim Zeiss. Jim Zeiss was a very long time ardent defender of life, very passionate and very dedicated. And anyway, Robert met him at a pro-life event and Jim recommended that he come to this church and he was here for nine years. And some of his kids are here in this congregation today and will be here for a few weeks. There's also another young man in this congregation who's here because of Jim Zeiss.

Check this scenario. This young man's mother went to a Joyce Myers conference in St. Louis, Missouri, okay? She's going into this thing and there's Jim Zeiss. He made thousands of CDs, gospel CDs, Reformation of the Church CDs, Reformation of the Family CDs.

He had blue and pink CDs and he's going around passing them out to these thousands of people going to this Joyce Myers conference and Brandon Vanderhoort Ford's mother walked into that conference and got one of those CDs and he's here today. Anyway look at this man he passed out thousands and thousands of see he would go to all kinds of events and just event he was an evangelist and he was a man evangelist for everything good it was really amazing and he in fact it was probably it was over 20 years ago he would He would duplicate thousands of CDs in his basement. You go in his basement and it would just be covered with literature. Oh, he was just a literature machine passing it out everywhere it went. And he sent us at Church and Family Life a CD duplication tower.

And we were so poor and we just we cranked out so many CDs I have thousands and thousands of them of conference of messages and stuff like that that was that was Jim Z's but one after another the the the men who were impressed by the patterns of life of Jim Z stood up and said that's my spiritual father I didn't have a father this is a man who had no sons but he has hundreds of is a huge huge funeral bigger than a celebrity's funeral actually and here's the deal all the people who testified on that platform at the at the at the memorial service every single person who knew Jim Zese knew that everything they said was true. It was the most inspiring funeral I've ever been to in my life, But it was such a blessing. Here's why I give that illustration. Jim Z is a living picture of this admonition to show yourself a pattern, to adore the pattern, to embrace the pattern, and then to be the pattern and to replicate the pattern. That's what I saw at this funeral and I just was so thankful to know him and to be able to serve with him for really we we worked together really for the years of our greatest strength for a quarter of a century together and now he's dead and I'm going to really miss him.

Well patterns, patterns they create stability. They're like blueprints in a building that show you what to do. They create beauty, just like the patterns of music create beauty. Patterns, they create a complexity of elegance, just like DNA does. These are patterns.

Patterns, they create safety, like checklists do when you're getting ready to fly in an airplane Patterns preserve knowledge like recipes like traditions like apprentices, you know Pat apprenticeships patterns create so many good things and they either patterns either make you successful or not. People are made successful not not by some emotional thing that they go through. They actually become successful by the patterns that they create in their life and that they're dedicated to. The habits that they have. And you know, and I just want us to consider our patterns.

You know, researchers tell us that we look at our phones 161 times a day. That's called a pattern. You know, that's such a radical departure from the last, you know, 5, 000 years of history. And we just have to recognize that in every culture we're subject to various patterns and we should always be looking afresh at the patterns that we are existing within. Because the most important asset that you've been given is time and the patterns with which you use to spend that time.

It is your most precious possession. What you do with your time and But this whole matter of imitation, this is a Christian practice. Imitation is a Christian practice, just like all those men who imitated Jim Zees and became strongmen. The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 11 when he says imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. In Hebrews 13 7 says remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you whose faith you mimic or whose faith you follow considering the outcome of their conduct In other words there are people who have good patterns that should be followed.

In 2nd Timothy 1 13 Paul says that Timothy hold fast to the pattern of sound works, the stamp, the blow of sound works, of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Jesus Christ so hey you know we've talked about this before about Titus but what the book of Titus is about is about how to live out, how to put into practice, you know how to how to hit the street with the things that you've been taught. It's really street level wisdom, it's how Christianity is actually expressed in the world. But even deeper than that, the apostle makes it very clear that this is really the power of the grace of God. It's explicitly stated in this text. What is it that causes a person to walk in the patterns of Jesus Christ?

It's the grace of God. It's grace that is the fuel of life. You know, John Newton said, it was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. It's grace that teaches you how to walk and so here the Apostle Paul he has spoken about genders. He's talking about men and women, and then he moves to ages, the young men be sober.

And then in verse seven, he changes the focus and he's talking about the patterns that Titus is to demonstrate, the stamp that Titus is to make on the people in Crete And that stamp is the same stamp that every Christian should be making on one another. We should be making it on one another in this church. You should be making it on one another in your marriage, you know, with raising your kids with every part of your life it's the stamp of the gospel it's the blow of the gospel it's the type it's it's it's what God has God has established now I want to make this very clear These are not just simply about isolated virtues. There are six of them that we're going to list in just a minute, but it really is about how the grace of God progressively transforms the character of a human being by refining it and giving it sort of structural integrity in their inner desires, in their doctrine, in their speech, in their conduct. And this is a work of the grace of God, the grace of God at work in sinners, the grace of God at work in sinners, like in a place on Crete that had a lot of bad stuff that got picked up along the way.

Aren't you glad that God pays full price for damaged goods? He does. He pays full price the price of His Son, and He sets them free, and he sets them on a whole new pattern of life. You know, the whole backdrop of this book is just the thrilling picture of people who have been released from guilt, who have been delivered from condemnation, who've had the removal of the threat of hell, who have a new life, you know, who are experiencing the continuous removal of corruption in their life by the breaking of the power of sin through through Jesus Christ and and then that just the ongoing discipleship and training of the Holy Spirit Aren't you glad God is patient with you? You know this is one thing that really struck me about Jim Gease.

Jim was patient and long-suffering with some of the stupidity of the young men that he interacted with. He was as cool as a cucumber. He could speak frankly to people, but he played the long game with young men. He was such a wonderful, wonderful pattern for all of that. Well, because we grew up in a corrupt culture we don't always see things clearly and we all have to recognize that we everybody lives downstream of something.

You just think about what you personally have lived downstream of. It's different for all of us in different ways. We've all grown up in a common culture here in the United States. Many of you have not grown up in the common culture of the United States and you're here now, but we all are living downstream of the culture that we live in, the lifestyles of our families, and everybody experiences that and we're in this process of setting things in order and that's really another thing that the Apostle it makes very clear that he's he's really calling his people on Crete to adorn the doctrine too. And he's using this language of like putting on clothing.

It's something that you can see. Your clothing says something about you and he's saying that we are adorning the doctrine just like you put on clothing. Actually, the word that he uses is the word, Cosmea. Well, every woman will recognize what this word is a derivative for cosmetics. It's something that you put on that is visible.

Hopefully, it's not garishly visible, but it's visible. You put it on and that's the doctrine that we wear. And so that's the focus of all of this thing. And you know, he's addressing the transformation that begins in the human heart. And he's talking about living in a culture that's poisoned.

Here's the problem with our habits and our patterns. I'll liken it to water. The water gets poisoned and we get used to the taste. You know, it's kind of like, you know, the atmosphere gets kind of smoky and you don't see how clouded your vision is until the smoke clears away. It's like, I don't know if you've ever lived near a dump, but the People who live near a dump say that, you know, it smelled pretty strong when they moved there, but now they don't smell it at all.

You know, I grew up in Fullerton, California near a railroad track. It actually went right behind the Fender guitar factory, just really close to my house. And they would bring in materials to that guitar factory. But anyway, when we moved there, you could hear the train, but people would come and visit us and say, well, that's a loud train. We go, what?

We don't hear it anymore. That's what we do. We grow up in these cultures. We live downstream of whatever it is. And when you read the words that you have here in Titus, I just think you have to ask, what habits are downstream that maybe need to be adjusted in your life?

And look, the purpose of this is stated so clearly in Titus so that the word of God may not be blasphemed there are certain ways that you live your life that will cause the word of God to be blasphemed. Their way that older women live their lives there. Way that younger women lived their lives. There ways that older men live their lives, there are ways that younger that younger men live their lives that would cause the Word of God to be blasphemed. So it's a very serious matter that he's bringing to us.

So and let me just lean on this again. These admonitions really point to Jesus Christ. This is not moralism. It's not simply about being a nicer person. It's really what it means to manifest the glory of Jesus Christ because all of these qualities, all of these habits are the habits of Christ and and that's why Paul said let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus we should have the mind of Christ And these qualities are not just simple moral qualities.

They really are the mind of Jesus Christ and their part and parcel of becoming a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. And yet they should be pursued. We here's what we know. We are justified by faith, not by works, but we are sanctified by taking action. You have to understand the difference.

And God calls his people to urgent changes in sanctification, knowing that their sins have all been forgiven. Because the truth is, you can't even repent of all your sins, because you don't even know them. You're just not aware of how sinful we are. But we can do something about our sanctification so they had these six patterns that are here and remember remember what I said at the beginning this is the pattern follow the pattern and become the pattern and and make those same impressions both on your own soul and everybody around you and so he says verse seven in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works." So again, he's talking about this whole idea of cutting out, of a pattern, you know, and we talked about this quite a bit in men's Bible study. One of the men gave us this illustration of framing a house and he talked about the pattern rafter.

The first rafter that you cut is critical and you better cut every rafter with the same angle or your your roof is going to be cattywampus. You got to get the pattern right and here you know this is a pattern of good works. You know I have some experience with cutting out patterns you know years ago when we moved to Wake Forest we started a church and I started a company. And, oh, we were so poor, it was amazing. And Deborah started an apparel business that she ran out of our house.

Deborah's a seamstress. And so she designed these clothes, and she had women, you know, I think she had over a dozen seamstresses sewing in their houses these clothes that she designed. And I would come home from work, and she would hand me some patterns and I would be cutting out patterns, you know till midnight I didn't I wasn't such a great pattern cutter Actually, some of my patterns had to get thrown away and you know, I was so embarrassed but that you know cutting out you with when you're cutting out a pattern you better get it right because it ain't gonna look right if you don't get it right. And so, but we are all imitating some patterns. And as you're raising your children, it's very important that you understand what patterns you're inculcating with your children.

Because those patterns will live on. The affections that you grow while you're raising your children will continue on. You should be very, very careful with what you allow your children's affections are attracted to. That all has to do with patterns. So let's look at these six virtues, these six patterns.

The first is the pattern of good works. You know, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, just let that be your pattern. And then the second pattern is the pattern of teaching. And he says, in doctrine showing integrity. Doctrine is a word that means teaching and he's really referring to soundness and integrity of teaching and in Greek literature this word was used really to attribute as an attribute of the gods, of majesty.

It was also used of music and the beautiful majestic sounds of music. And so he's talking about a pattern of teaching that is, that's actually beautiful. There's the same words used in Proverbs 8-6, listen for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things, from my mouth will speak truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. So this has to do with the things that you're teaching, or that you're teaching good things.

Then the next habit, the third, is reverence. It's a pattern of reverence, and this has to do with weight. We get the idea of gravitas here from this term and it's used here in Titus and first and first and second Timothy for leaders in churches for officers and it's it's used for children with their parents, that children should be in all submission with all reverence. It's used for deacons. It's used in Philippians 4.8, where he says, these things that you have learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the peace of God will be with you so this this has to do with gravity things that are things that are true and important you know setting your mind on the things that have significance instead of silliness and stupidity and irrelevance.

We live in such a world of irrelevant information, and It's right for us to turn away from the irrelevancies and turn to the things that have weight in them. And the fourth habit, incorruptibility. This really has to do with being resistant to corruption, resistant to corruption. I can't think of a more helpful habit than this one in the society that we live in where there is so much attack of corruption. This has to do with protecting yourself from corruption, You know, to be anchored.

You know how, you know, if you want to put a board in the ground, a post in the ground, you want a treated board. You want something that's gonna be resistant to rot. And that's the whole idea that he's giving here. So that it can carry weight, so that you're not rotting on the inside because of your habits. Because your habits will either cause you to thrive or to rot from the inside out and from outside influences.

I'm only saying this to just ask all of us, are we properly protecting ourselves from corruption are we holding back the influences of corruption in our lives because there are just so many of them you know what they are I don't have to list them and then fifth the habit of sound speech sound speech that cannot be condemned And the Bible has a lot to say about the use of the tongue and speech. You know, speech that is life-giving, speech that is not corrupt, speech that is not self-serving, not slanderous. Speech that's full of good things. Well, okay, let's just say it like this. This is what every child needs to hear from his parents.

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it. That's a good rule for everybody. That's a habit. That's creating a habit of just refusing to say things that are that are harmful. You can get in the habit of just shooting your mouth off.

Oh I'm just expressing my feelings. That's probably the worst thing you can do is your feelings are fallen. In 2nd Timothy 1 13 the Apostle says hold fast to the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. In other words, these are sound words that they're just not mixed with pagan philosophy and corruption and corruption. And then the sixth pattern is a pattern of irreproachability.

Now this is a purpose clause. Look at this. That one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to save you. In other words, your habits are such that the people who hate you, there's nothing they can grab on to. They're just, if they're gonna go after you, they're gonna be grasping at straws and everybody's gonna know it.

So, in other words, that you are irreproachable, there's no reason, you don't give anyone reason to reproach you in that sense and and this is really the kicker that your opponents may be ashamed having nothing evil to say about you. In other words, these habits are designed to make other people ashamed who hate good habits. In other words, It's okay to make people feel ashamed if they are exercising terrible habits. But you are irreproachable and there's nothing evil to say about you. I think it doesn't, you know, maybe it doesn't need to be said but shame is a healthy source of social control okay.

It keeps people from doing things that they shouldn't be doing around you. That they have nothing to say evil to say about you this whole thing about patterns is something that you find all throughout the Bible you have patterns that are in heaven that are brought to earth in the Lord's Prayer your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, the heavenly patterns are brought to earth. We learned in the Old Testament the tabernacle, the worship of God, was a copy of something in heaven. And we are actually, we are living out in earthly copies of heavenly things so much of just look around light it's a copy it's a copy of heavenly things a door a window water all these things are these things are tangible things that you see that that are actual copies of things in heaven and you are a copy.

You are a pattern. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was a pattern of His Father. In John 8.28, I just read this a couple days ago. He says, I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me.

The Father has not left me alone for I always do the things that please my Father." What Jesus is saying is that he is patterning his father. He's only speaking the words that his father taught him and that should be replicated in every family. You fathers and mothers teach your children to replicate the voice from heaven. That's what Jesus did and that's what all of us should be doing. You know patterns are patterns are helpful.

Patterns preserve life when emotions run high, when fatigue starts weighing you down, when you start getting distracted. Patterns are helpful to keep you on course. Patterns don't save your soul, but good patterns are used of the Lord to sanctify your life. You know yesterday at that graveside they they were following the patterns of the Word of God. They every person who was there saw Christian patterns.

They they buried, they honored the body of this man recognizing that there will be a resurrection, that his body went into the grave and his spirit fled to God, to the presence of his Savior, and one day his body will be raised again. This is a pattern. This is the Christian pattern. Christians should not be cremating their dead. They should be honoring the dead, recognizing the resurrection.

And They, it was very, very moving. The casket was lowered into the grave, and the youngest grandson threw the first shovelful of dirt, and then the wife and the daughters and then many of the men buried their friend who had such exemplary patterns that made such an impression and everybody knew that it was the blow of the gospel of Jesus Christ on that man. Patterns are so good they create stability and they keep us from inventing disasters in our lives to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, his son. Well, I wanted to lean on this whole matter of patterns and to just recognize that the well-being of the world depends on the continuous godly progression of the patterns of generations and that's what God has charged the church to do in a corrupt society to create an entirely new community with a new way of living with a new way of old men and old women living, a new way of young men and young women living, a new way of leading the church, a new way of holding on to what's true in life, holding fast to the word of life. And God's placed us here in the midst of our own corrupt hearts, in the midst of a corrupt culture, to bring freshness, the renewing patterns of good works.

And that's what God's called us to and we must never forget every one of these patterns is a pattern of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and if you don't if you if you if you haven't If you haven't believed in him and followed him, there's nothing better than following the best patterns. He's good. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for teaching us the ways in which we should go.

Thank you for not leaving us on our own to live this life in our own way, but giving us Jesus Christ as our great high priest to show us the way. Amen.