Text: Titus 2:1–5
Topic: The role of older people in the church

• Illustration: Just prior to the launch of the space shuttle Discovery, the media fixated on John Glenn's age rather than the scientific merits of the mission.
• Their sentiment reflects the attitude of our culture: when a person gets a certain age, they must step aside and let the younger people take over.
• Titus 2:1–5 describes the role of older people in the church.
• Paul offers his instruction to four groups, beginning with senior members of the congregation.
  • Illustration: The first-century philosopher Philo, said that "old" meant over 60 for both men and women.
  • Illustration: The Greek physician Hippocrates, defined "old age" as the sixth of seven periods in a person's life.
• Paul is addressing those people our culture would classify as senior citizens.

• In Titus 2:2–5, Paul indicates that the role of a senior Christian is as much to become something as to do something.
• In the King James Version of the Bible, the first two qualities listed in verse 2 are "sober" and "grave;" those words seem to suggest "stern" and "grouchy."
• "Sober" is translated as "temperate" in the NIV; it indicates a lifestyle that is not excessive or rash in any area.
• Our habits and behaviors become more pronounced as we grow older; if we tend to get angry, old age makes us grouchy; if we tend to be shy, old age can make us reclusive.
• Being sober means that we're balanced in our personality and personal habits; we avoid extremes in our moods, words, and behavior.
• Similarly, the term "grave" means taking life and God seriously, but not taking oneself too seriously.
• "Self-controlled" or "temperate" describes the man who keeps his passions under control.
• Many Bible characters failed in the second half of their lives: Noah got drunk; David committed adultery; Solomon flirted with all kinds of false ideas.
  • Illustration: Warren Wiersbe wrote: "As we grow older, we're confronted with temptations that we've shunned in youth, but that now look very attractive: cutting corners, eliminating disciplines, lowering standards."
• Finally, older men are to remain "sound" in three critical areas of the Christian life: faith, love, and perseverance.
• Paul now turns to older women.
• First, older women are to be "reverent in the way they live," like people whose lives are devoted to religious duties.
• Next, Paul cites two negative qualities that women must avoid: slandering and addiction to wine.
• Women are to behave in these ways "in order that they can train the young woman" how to love their husbands and their children.
• Older women are also to train the younger women how to be self-controlled, pure, and busy at home.
• This doesn't mean that a woman can't work outside the home; Proverbs 31 suggests otherwise.
• Furthermore, the older women are model for younger women how they should respond to their husband's leadership in the home.
• The desired result, at the end of verse 5, is that the Word of God will not be dishonored or shamed.

• Paul emphasizes the role of women in teaching the upcoming generation more than that of men.
• In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul instructs another leader, Timothy, to entrust what he had been taught to "reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."
• God calls older Christians to pursue the kind of behavior that matches correct doctrine; in this way they display the kind of lifestyle younger Christians need to pursue.
• The role of older Christians is to model what God wants the next generation to become.

• In Titus 3:1, Paul tells Titus, "You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine."
• The first people Titus must teach are older people.
• To assume the role of modeling what God wants the next generation to become, older Christians must continue to learn.
  • Illustration: Howard Hendricks describes an elderly woman whose motto was: Let's get into a discussion, and if we can't find anything to discuss, let's get into an argument; she died at 86 after drafting a list of goals for the next 10 years.

• Young people need to do three things.
• First, get to know the older people in your congregation.
• Second, encourage and affirm the older Christians.
• Third, realize that you're going to get old some day.
• You're never too old to have goals or to make a contribution.
  • Illustration: While working away from home, Mathewson met a man in his 80s who planned to restore several classic automobiles.
• Make it your goal to model Christian behavior to younger generations.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "Older People: The Future of Our Church."