Sound Doctrine and Sanctified Living (Part 1)

So we're looking at Titus, the book of Titus, the letter to Titus.

He's a pastor, leader, leader of perhaps dozens of churches. You remember Paul had commanded him in this letter to appoint elders in all of the cities.

And I think what we can assume by that is that each of the cities in Crete where Paul and Titus, perhaps some others who helped him, helped them, planted churches all around the, all throughout the island of Crete.

And so the work was started with Paul, assisted by Titus and others. And now Paul's left Crete and has written a letter to Titus and has given him instructions, not just to appoint elders, but a lot of other instruction that he needs as leader of the church.

All right. So tonight then we're ready to delve into chapter two of the letter. And you have your notes there. My plan is to make it all the way through to verse 10, verse 10 of chapter two.

And I want to make a note here of Paul's logic, kind of his flow of thought here. And it's pretty, really pretty easy to identify when you, when you really think about it.

He began, remember, after the salutation, he began in the body of this letter with instructions concerning qualified elders in the church.

Remember? And that was something we've already studied for chapters one, verses five through nine. And so he gives, you know, not only instructions to appoint elders in all of the churches, but also gives qualifications for those who would be eligible, men who would be eligible to be elders in these churches.

And so we've looked at that. So qualified elders, kind of the first order of business in his letter. And then he moved to instructions concerning falsified leaders in the church.

Chapter one, verses 10 through 16. You just, you know, very, very smartly, just kind of moved from one subject into the other because one leads to the other.

The qualified elders who will preach sound doctrine because they need that in the church is because there are false teachers in the churches. And so now when we get to chapter two, we're going to, he's going to give instructions concerning what I want to call sanctified members of the church.

So he's kind of hitting all of the bases, all of the people involved in the local church, from the elders to some who are in the church who are teaching false doctrine, deals with adding connection with elders and the work of the elder.

And now he's going to touch every member of the church, sanctified members in the church, chapter two, verses one through 10. So as we look then at this passage, the apostle Paul is going to reveal to us here in this passage.

Really, he's already been revealing this to us, as I'm going to show you here in a minute. But he's revealing to us the very vital, living, very significant correlation or relationship between sound doctrine and sanctified living.

Right. They're inseparable or should be. And that is what I mean is that sound doctrine should always lead to sanctified living.

Right. All right. So and then as we go a little bit further, actually, as we look at another element within this passage, we're going to see that Paul is going to reveal to us how these two things, sound doctrine and sanctified living, they come together to bring about our successful witness as a church, a successful witness.

And we'll see how all of those things relate together in these 10 verses. All right. So that's how how I would outline in the main points of my teaching tonight in those three things.

I'll give those to you here in a minute. But I want to read the text, first of all. And even though I'm going to reread it as we go along, that Titus chapter two, verses one through 10.

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine that the older man be sober. Some versions have elder men.

And it is the word presbyteros, elder. Some, I think, even use the word aged. But I don't think we really like that term, the aged men.

And especially when you get to what he's going to say next, the women. I don't think any of the women want to be called aged women. All right. Anyway, here's what he says. That the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience or endurance.

The older women, likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.

That they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands.

That the word of God may not be blasphemed. 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.

Exhort bond servants or slaves to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things. Not answering back.

No talk back. No back talk, rather. Not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

So, it's a pretty significant passage of Scripture and has a lot to say. And so, as we look at the passage, I want to divide it into three parts.

And all three of these parts can come together. And there's a correlation between all three parts here. Very logical correlation. And the first one is sound doctrine.

So, it all begins there. Sound doctrine. And so, I want you to notice, as we think about that, something very important.

And that is, if you haven't noticed, as we, you know, back when we started this study, all of Paul's instructions in this letter to this point, and really we'll find from this point on as well, all of Paul's instructions here are connected in some way to sound doctrine.

In fact, that's putting it lightly. They are inseparable. Everything, all the instructions he gives, the commands he gives, the desires that he lays before Titus, and his instructions and exhortations, and even when he calls upon Titus to rebuke certain ones in the church, all of it, every part of it, is inseparably linked to sound doctrine.

So important. And I honestly get pretty irritated with these, some of these contemporary kind of postmodern thinking preachers of our day.

Whatever postmodern means, I think we make way too much of that. But I get pretty irritated with it, you know, where sometimes they'll say, well, we, we, you know, don't preach doctrine.

Just preach Jesus. Yeah, that sounds like going just, yeah, that's right, you know. But really? I mean, does that even make sense? I mean, how does that even work?

I mean, what would a sermon be like? What, what, what kind of, what, what would that kind of sermon be like? I mean, if you think about it, is it even possible to, quote, preach Jesus without preaching doctrine?

Is that even possible? I mean, who Jesus is? When Jesus lived? What Jesus taught? What Jesus did?

I mean, if you're just going to preach Jesus, you've got to include all those subjects. Where Jesus is now? Why one needs to know Jesus? How one must respond to Jesus in order to be saved.

I mean, all those are within the subject of Jesus and all of that is doctrine. I mean, you can't, it's a ridiculous notion. If they just preach Jesus, don't preach doctrine, preach Jesus.

We can't preach anything without doctrine. And, and not just any old doctrine, but sound doctrine. Of course, the doctrine that it revealed to us in the word of God.

Now, in Paul's letter to Titus, he was constantly connecting everything, everything to sound doctrine. And so, I'll just point you to some of it.

When he was giving his salutation. And he was talking about, you know, why he was an apostle. How he became an apostle. Remember back there in chapter 1, verses 1.

Paul said, I am a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to what? The faith. According to the faith of God's elect.

That is, those chosen of God. The faith. Now, you may not remember, but I pointed out to you that the definite article before the word faith means we're talking here about not faithfulness or faith unto salvation.

We're talking about the doctrines of the faith. The doctrines of the faith. And then, remember when Paul is talking about qualified elders.

And giving instructions about that and so forth. In chapter 1, verses 5 through 9. Through that part of chapter 1, Paul commanded, remember Titus. He commanded him to appoint elders in every city.

Verse 5. Paul provided, of course, qualifications for those elders. Verses 6 through 8. Parallel. Of course, parallel passages in 1 Timothy 3.

So he says, appoint elders and hear the qualifications for the elders. And then Paul instructed these elders to hold firm to the trustworthy word. That's what he said in verse 9.

And that's doctrine. Hold firm to the trustworthy word. And also to give instruction in what? Sound doctrine.

Sound doctrine. And so there it is again. So you can look at the major segments of the letter. As we look at the salutation to the letter.

The greeting of the letter. Then to the first subject that Paul deals with. Qualified elders. He connects it to sound doctrine in both cases.

Then we move forward. When he's talking about the false teachers, of course. To rebuke those false teachers. There in chapter 1, verses 10 through 16.

That portion of chapter 1. Paul instructed Titus to deal with these false teachers in the church. Who were teaching, he said. Teaching things which they ought not.

Now even that is tied, obviously, to sound doctrine. I mean, they're not teaching sound doctrine. That's the implication. They're teaching things they ought not teach. All right.

They're teaching outside of the revealed word of God. And he also says that Titus was to rebuke them sharply. That they may be sound in the faith.

And again, that is a reference to sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. So here we are in chapter 2. As we are looking at the various segments of membership in the church.

And in chapter 2, verse 1. Paul says to Titus. Just over and over. All throughout.

Paul never strays very far. Not just in Titus. But certainly in both letters to Timothy. Especially. Timothy being another pastor. And the letters being the pastoral epistles.

Pastoral letters. But even other letters written by Paul. He never strays very far. In fact, he never strays. From sound doctrine. And is always connecting practical instructions that he is giving.

Whether it's to a pastor like Titus or Timothy. Or to a church like Ephesus and Corinth. And other letters that he wrote. He's always connecting sound doctrine with all the practical instructions that he gives in his letters.

So sound doctrine. That's where it begins. You can't go anywhere without it. You can't build upon anything that is not firm.

And what is firm is sound doctrine. Then we want to notice something else here. And that is, again, the correlation between sound doctrine and Christian living.

Or sanctified living. And so, second, sanctified living. That's the word. I mean, you can put Christian living in there. But it breaks my alliteration.

But if you want to do that, that's okay. Sanctified living or Christian living. The correlation between sound doctrine and sanctified living. And here is the point.

There is, again, a direct relationship between the teaching and subsequent learning of sound doctrine and the production of sanctified living.

There's a direct relationship between those two things. Sanctified living. Holy living. Set apart living. Living in accord with the teachings of the Bible. There's a direct correlation relationship between sound doctrine and sanctified living.

And there are a couple of things to notice here in our passage about that. Just in the first place, this relationship declared. Paul began. Right there in verse 1, chapter 2, he declares this relationship right away.

In fact, he's already declared it a number of times up to this point. So, here's the first thing. The relationship declared. And, again, according to Paul, sanctified living springs forth from sound doctrine.

And we can't, you know, we can actually go back to the very same examples that I just gave you concerning Paul's emphasis on sound doctrine. Go back to those very same examples.

Paul's, chapter 1, in verse 1. Paul, he says, Paul, a bondservant or slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith.

Already pointed that out a little while ago. According to the doctrines of God's faith. According to the doctrines of the faith. Of God's elect. And, and this is what you need to notice. And the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness.

See the connection? Sound doctrine and godliness. Godliness. Doctrine has a direct correlation with godliness.

If, if your life is not in accord with sound doctrine. Work it the other way. If your life, the things you live for, the way you think, your, your, your, your whole lifestyle.

If it doesn't accord with sound doctrine. Then your lifestyle is not godly. So, you see the correlation. Direct, doctrine has a direct relationship with godliness.

Sound doctrine essentially leads to godliness. That's what he's saying there in chapter 1, verse 1. And then the example that I gave you a while ago.

From chapter 1, verse 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he. He, he's talking about qualified elders. He, the qualified elder, has been taught.

Alright, so he's holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught. That he may be able by sound doctrine. Both to exhort. That is to give instruction.

And convict. Rebuke. Those who contradict. So do you see, again, the correlation. Rebuke. Begins with.

The faithful. Holding fast to the faithful word. That's the sound doctrine. Begins with that. And you have that in hand. So that.

That elder can. Give. Proper instruction. To those who are. Teaching falsely. And not just. Sound instruction for them.

But also to convict them. To rebuke them. Rebuke those who are contradicting. The sound doctrine. Again, it. It's kind of bringing the doctrine into.

The practical. The practical application of it. And it leads to godliness. It leads to right living. Sacrified living. And then. In our text. Or excuse me.

The example that I gave you in chapter 1. Verse 13. Therefore. Rebuke them. Them. It's a reference to false teachers. Rebuke them sharply.

That. Or in order that. They may be sound in the faith. Sound. And in this case. Sound in. Not just the doctrines of the faith.

But in faithful living. How they're living. So here again. Is the connection between the two. What do you use. To rebuke the false teacher.

Sound doctrine. In order that. So that. So it brings about. A certain. End. A certain. Certain goal. And that is. Sound in the faith.

Alright. So there. There. You see the connection. And then in our text for tonight. Chapter 2. Verses 1 through 10. And we kind of put all of it together. Here. In a short form. But as for you.

He said. Titus. Speak. And speak here. Is in the sense of teaching. Speak the things. Which are proper. For sound doctrine. Alright. So there's the sound doctrine.

That. And this is the desired outcome. That the older men. Be. And then he lists. Several things. And we'll study those in a minute. That the older women be.

That the young women be. Be. That the young men be. That the bond servants be. So the word is be. In all of those blanks. Okay. Just kind of a shortened version.

So what's the idea? Teach the sound doctrine. And. The lives of the people of the church. Will change. They will be.

Godly. They will be. What God wants them to be. And. So the. There's the relationship. Declared. In these verses. The relationship. Between sound doctrine.

And sanctified living. Or. We should say. I think. Should say. There should be a correlation. I do want to mention that. I didn't put this in your notes.

I was going back over. I was thinking. You know. It doesn't always happen. That way. There is a correlation. Of course. Between sound doctrine. Sanctified living. But.

Many. A believer. Is experiencing. A disconnect. A disconnect. So. I guess. It would be right.

To say. There should be. A correlation. A relationship. When we bring it down. To the personal. Individual. Personal life. In the whole. It's true. But. For each individual life.

It may not. Happen. As it should happen. Just. Knowing sound doctrine. Doesn't necessarily. Produce.

Or. Carry over. Into. Sanctified living. As it should. All right. So. There should be. And I would say. There will be. Unless.

You're like. The person. James described. Not James Holt. But. I think. You would agree. With this. James. Perhaps. A more famous. James.

James Holt. The half brother. Of Jesus. He wrote. In James 1. 22 to 25. And you know. A good portion. Of this passage. But be doers. Of the word. Be doers.

Of the sound doctrine. And not hearers. Deceiving yourselves. For if anyone. Is a hearer. Of the word. And not a doer. He's like a man. Observing his natural face.

In a mirror. For he observes himself. Then he goes away. And immediately. Forgets. What kind of man he was. And really. The metaphor. Or the. The analogy.

Here. Is. You know. Saying that the bible. Is like a mirror. And so when you look. At the bible. It tells you. Who you are.

And. The man who is a hearer. But not a doer. Is looking at the bible. Knows what it says. About himself. What he needs to do. And so forth. But then he goes away from it. And he forgets all about it. Like walking away from a mirror.

And forgetting what you look like. That's a good analogy. Of those who are hearers. But not doers. Not doers. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty.

And continues in it. And is not a forgetful hearer. But a doer of the word. This one will be blessed in what he does. So. Again. I think it would be right to say.

There should be a correlation. Between sound doctrine. And sanctified living. Though. There are many. Many cases. Many instances. And I guess we could all admit.

That at certain seasons. In our lives. It's not. It's not necessarily so. And. But it should be. And it. Can be. Can be.

All right. So. That leads then. To something implied in the text. And that is the responsibility demanded. All right. So we have. The. The relationship.

Declared. Relationship between sound doctrine. And sanctified living. But there's a responsibility. Involved. Even though. It is implied. And not stated explicitly.

In the passage. Nothing in here about. About. Obedience. That is obedience. To the sound doctrine. But obedience is. Is a part of it.

So. You see. Sanctified living. Is something God. Does. By his word. The sound doctrine. But he also does it. Through. Our obedient participation.

Each of us. We participate. In. In this. Sanctified living. It's not. You know. Something God just does to us. And we are kind of. Bystanders.

And it just happens. Automatically. You know. Again. The. Oft. Worn out phrase. You know. Let go. And let God.

You know. That may apply. In some instances. But when it comes. To our sanctification. That is becoming. More like Christ. Living out. The Christian life. We participate in that.

Through our obedience. All right. So Paul then. Issues. His exhortation. To every member. Of the congregation. By dividing them. Into five groups. In this.

And in this order. Older men. Older women. Younger women. Younger men. And. Bond servants. Those five categories. And.

And by doing so. He has included everyone. In the church. Because that would include everybody. You're either an older man. Or a younger man. Older woman. Or a younger woman. And. Which was the case.

In the. Certainly. First century church. Many slaves. Were. Were believers. I mean. Many. Primarily. Because there were. Many.

Many slaves. In. In. In the. Roman society. All right. So. Those five categories. Let's look at it very quickly. First of all. The older men. We don't really have to.

I don't have to. Really give a lot of. Commentary on this. But what does he say about older men. Verse two. Well. First he says that the older men. Be sober.

Sober. And. I think y'all. Should be sober. Guys. And really. There are two ways. To. To interpret. That word.

Sober. The word. Sober. The word that is used in the text. Literally. Literally. Is. Is. Talking about. Drunkenness. All right.

So. The older men. Should not be drunkards. But I. I think. Actually. That. This should be taken. Figured to it.

I mean. Certainly. Older men. Shouldn't be drunkards. Nor should younger men. Or. Older women. Or. Younger women. Obviously. The bible. Has. A great deal to say.

About drunkenness. But the idea here. Is. That the older men. Should. Be clear thinking. A kind of a clear thinking. That leads to sound judgments.

Very important. I mean. The older men. Are not. Just called older men. Because they are up in years. Age wise. But older men. Especially.

The word. Presbyteros. Refers to. Maturity. I mean. The implication is maturity. And so. It's encouraging. Exhorting. The older men.

To be mature men. In the church. To. To think clearly. Based upon. The sound doctrine. Think clearly. And make sound judgments.

And. So the older men. Would be sober. Also. That the older men. Be reverent. And. These are all words. That are used. In the.

New King James version. Other versions. Use different words. King James. Here. Uses the word. Grave. And. It's kind of. An antiquated. Term. We don't.

Really use it. Very much. Say that a person. Grave. Kind of bears. Some explanation. But. The idea. Really. Is better. Reverent. But. But. Here. Here's what he's saying. The older men.

Should be. Serious minded. When it comes. To the Christian life. The things of Christ. The Christian life. Inside the church. As well as. Outside the church. Be sober minded.

That doesn't mean you. Or rather reverent. That doesn't mean you. Can't joke around sometimes. I mean. I like a little humor. Nothing wrong with that. I'm. I'm not violating.

I kind of consider myself. In that category. The older men. Some of you say. You're young. Some of you might say. Yeah. You are old. You know. Older than dirt.

But. You know. I'm not this. You know. Of. Violating. This. Command. By. Being humorous. Doesn't wrong with that. But when it comes to. Christian life.

Teaching of scripture. The things of Christ. Those are not joking. That. Would it be very. Very serious. Minded people.

When it comes to the truths. Of God's word. And his commands. Upon our life. And the. Seriousness. Of lostness. And you know. We don't joke about those things.

You know. I have actually. And by the way. This. Is. Some of these. Kind of. Parallel. Qualifications. For elders. And deacons. Some of these. So. Be sober minded.

Reverent. So forth. I've. I've. I've actually. Had some. Deacons. That weren't serious. About a single thing. I mean. When it came to the church. And spiritual things. You can find a serious bone in the body.

And when I say. I've had deacons like that. None of them exist in this church. I always have to. Qualify that. And I really mean that. And.

How sad. But. But the older. Mature. Supposedly. And should be. Spiritually mature. Men in the church. Titus is to exhort them.

To be reverent. To be. Be serious about things. Serious minded. When it comes to. The Christian life. The older men are to be temperate.

Is the word that's used here. Which means. They're to be self-controlled. Self-controlled. Self-disciplined. I say self-controlled.

I'm not saying. Somehow. That you become the lord of your life. And you make all your decisions. Don't need God. It's not talking about that. But. Self-disciplined.

Self-controlled. In. You know. When it comes to. Sin. And temptation to sin. And things of the world. We make certain decisions. And become very resolute.

About not doing certain things. Saying certain things. Thinking certain ways. Going certain places. We. You know. And succumbing to. To certain temptations.

They're all around us. We need to be. Self-controlled. And. And. And. And then. The older men. Are to be sound in faith. Sound in faith.

And. The word sound. By the way. It's talking about health. You know. Be healthy. Sound. Healthy.

And. And so he says. Sound in faith. And in this instance. It's not sound. In. The faith. The doctrines of the faith. This is. Where you have to be sure.

The context. Kind of guides you. And some of the grammar. But. Sometimes. Faith. Is referring to. Saving faith. Sometimes the word faith. Is referring to. Faithfulness. In your life.

How you're living your life. Sometimes. Faith. Refers to. The body of doctrine. The doctrines of the faith. The faith. The Christian faith. In this case.

It's not talking about. Doctrine. I mean. That. We should be sound. In doctrine. Goes without saying. All right. Should. But here. He's talking about.

Sound. In the. Practical. Expressions. Of faith. How. We're living out. The. Doctrine. Of the truths.

Of scripture. And then. Next. That the older men. Be sound. In love. See. These three go together. Faith. Love. And patience. And so.

We're not only. Be sound. In faith. Expressions. Of that faith. But sound. In love. And it is. The word. Agape. Love. Love. Here. Self-sacrificial.

Love. And so. The older men. Are to maintain. A healthy love. For God. And for others. And then. Finally. Under the older men.

The older men. Are to be sound. In patience. Or. The better word. Would be. Endurance. And some have. Kind of compared this.

With. You know. That trilogy. Faith. Love. And hope. Faith. Hope. And love. And patience. Or endurance. Might be likened.

To hope. So maybe the three. Are mentioned here. By Paul. But the idea behind. Being sound. In patience. Is. I guess. Really. To put it this way.

Older men. Are to focus. On ending well. That's what we all. Ought to want to do. We don't. Always. Make right decisions.

In life. And maybe early on. We've made some. Terrible. Terrible decisions. Hopefully. In the middle somewhere. We. We don't make certain decisions. That shipwreck our lives.

All right. So. We ought to pay attention. And. You know. About our. Our lives. Every step. From. From youth. All the way to old age. But we especially. Want to end well.

We want to end well. And I have known. So many. Men. Who. Are pastors. And you too. Also know. You know.

Men. Who. Gave their lives. To the ministry. And were very effective. And God blessed them. Only to. End poorly. End poorly. I don't want that.

Ever to happen to me. And this is. This is it. You know. Sometimes. When we get older. We get a little lax. We get a little impatient. Maybe get a little discouraged. Maybe. You know. Things that used to be important to us.

And our zeal. Is kind of. You know. Kind of. Wained a little bit. And. We. We don't endure to the end. And so. He's really addressing. What would be.

A very typical problem. With older. Older men. And older women. That we want. To. Stay strong. All the way to the end. Follow the Lord. And trust him.

And commit our lives to him. And live for him. All the way to the very end. The very last breath. We want to end well. And then second. The older women. The older women.

Likewise. That they be reverent. In behavior. And this is kind of an interesting. Set of words. Actually. Now we've already seen the word reverent. There in.

Connected to older men. This is a totally different word. Even though it's translated reverent. Both places. In. At least in the New King James. It's a different word. And it's actually a compound word.

Two part word. That. The first part of the word. Means. Temple. Or. That's how you would translate that part of the word.

Temple. And. The other. Part of the word. Could be translated. Fitting. Or appropriate. Now you put those two together. And here's the meaning of the word.

Where. A. Older women. Are to live. Like. Priestesses. Serving God's temple. That's the idea. And.

Since many. Of these older. Women. Would be widows. And it's. The case. In. Was the case. In. Paul's day. Case.

In our day. Many of the older women. In the churches. Are widows. And. And so what. This is kind of. The primary focus. What. What. What. Is he saying.

To these. Widows. Older women. In the church. The older women. Are to. Serve the Lord. Like. Priestesses. In the temple.

To. Give their lives. To his service. As long as they can. All right. We're going to have to. Either stop. Or go quicker. I think we're going to need to stop.

Because I got a long way to go. As we look at all these. Let me go ahead. And at least finish the older women. We've got to get past the older women. I'm. Tired of even using that term.

Some of you are going to. Get me for that. I didn't say elder women. Or aged women. I guess I just did. The older women.

Next. Are not to be slanderers. The word slanderers. Here. Actually. Come from the Greek word. That is often. Translated. Devil. That terrible.

It's the word. Diabolos. Diabolos. And. You're familiar with that. Term. You know. Quite often. That's a reference to. Not the devil. A person who's devilish.

You know. The devil. Was a slanderer. Is a slanderer. A liar. So. The older women. Are not to be. Devils. In the.

In the sense of slanderers. The older women. Here's the idea. Of course. Obviously. The older women. Are to control their tongues. And not using. Their tongues.

To speak lies. To. Make false accusations. Or. To spread gossip. Now. I know what some of you women. Are thinking. You say. Well. What about the guys here?

Well. I mean. This. This is not to say. Here that. The men can be gossips. And the women can't be. Because Paul didn't say anything. About the men. You know.

Not being slanderers. It can all be gossips. And. And I would. Say to you. That. If. If I were to identify. One of the chief sins. In the church today.

It would be gossip. It would be gossip. Sometimes we. We don't think it is gossip. We'd like to call it something else. You know. Sometimes. We have the idea.

That gossip. Is only when you spread. Malicious things. Or. With a malicious motive. But it doesn't make any difference. What it is. Gossip. Is.

Is something. That just. Really destroys. The fellowship. Of. Any. Any church. Any. Any relationship. The older women. Not to be given. Too much wine. All right.

So you can just drink a little bit. But not much. Of course. Have that discussion. We talk about the. Qualifications for deacons and elders. Well deacons. Especially.

You know. The elders. They can't drink. With the deacons. They just didn't drink a little. Just not much wine. Whatever your position is. It actually means. That their.

Older women. Are not to be addicted. To wine. Given to it. Given over to it. Not enslaved. By it. Then the older women.

Be teachers. Of good things. Not giving permission. For women. To be. Pastors of the churches. Not talking about. Any position of teaching.

It's just talking about. It to be teaching. In fact. As you go forward. We see how that. That teaching is applied. Especially to a certain group. In the church. Because.

He goes on to say. That they admonish. Or encourage. The young women. All right. So this part of Paul's. Exhortation. To the older women. Defines.

I think. The primary focus. Of there. Being. Teachers of good. In the church. You know. How we need this. And we've kind of. Reached a place. We're so far.

From this kind of. Relationship. That. Not only do we. Not have. Older women. In the church. Who are willing. To teach the younger women. But. We have a lot of.

Younger women. That aren't teachable. They don't want. They don't want that teaching. And what a shame that is. Because. The older women. Godly women. Have a lot to offer.

To the younger women. Think about. What you have to offer. The younger women. In the area. Of relationship. Between wife and husband. Parenting. Discipline in the home.

Housekeeping. Cooking. I tell you what. We're getting to a place. In the Baptist church. Can't even. Hardly have a potluck dinner. Anymore. Without KFC. Or something like that.

What happened to all the. Home cooked food. You know. We still have it here. I'm not saying that. But not as much as we once did. Years gone by.

Think about it. I can remember. As a matter of fact. And I'll close with this. I can remember when I was a kid. And of course. I grew up in the church. My dad. In music ministry.

As long as I can remember. And. And so. I have. Been to many. Potluck dinners. In the Baptist church. And I remember. As a kid.

Being absolutely. Amazed. At how much food. My dad. Could pile on his plate. You know. As we're going down the line. And he's got it. Heaping up on the plate there.

And. I took note of that. And I. I learned well. From that instruction. From my father.