Show Notes
Titus 2:3
Pastor Stephen Laurer
View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] And majestic. You sit on the throne of heaven. As we approach you, our hearts are impressed with a sense of your glory and your majesty. You are weighty beyond thought.
[00:00:17] And so as we turn to Your Word, we are reminded that you draw our hearts and our minds, our attention to weighty things, things of great importance, great importance to youo. That's why youy speak to them, to us. And therefore, of great importance to our hearts and souls and our lives.
[00:00:39] So we ask, O God, that yout would bless us as we consider these things from youm Word together.
[00:00:45] That yout Spirit would fill our hearts, and that he would lead us in the way of truth, in the way that leads us most especially to Jesus, our Savior. And in his name we pray. Amen.
[00:01:01] Our sermon text this evening is going to come from Titus, Chapter two. We're going to read from the New Testament, Titus two.
[00:01:12] We'll read verses one through four and we'll focus in our sermon on verse three.
[00:01:19] Continuing here in our sermons on Titus, we come to this section where Paul teaches Titus and us, that pastors are to not just teach people about doctrine, the truths of the Christian faith, but also teach them that there's a way that the Christian is to be our character as well as our living that is appropriate and fitting to the doctrines that we've learned and come to believe. In other words, become a Christian by faith, and the things that you believe in should begin to shape how you are and how you live.
[00:01:58] All right, Hear God's word. Titus, Chapter two, verse one. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
[00:02:05] Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, in love and in steadfastness.
[00:02:16] Older women likewise are to be reverent in good behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.
[00:02:26] They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children.
[00:02:34] Please be seated.
[00:02:45] We began looking last week at this section and we talked about things that are appropriate to sound doctrine. What's proper, what's fitting, what's meet or appropriate.
[00:02:58] We can think of lots of things in our lives that are fitting or appropriate in all sorts of areas.
[00:03:04] You can think about things that are fitting in the area of words. Sometimes words can be really appropriate.
[00:03:11] Proverbs 25, verse 11 says, like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word spoken in right circumstances, beautiful to think about. You have this precious gold apple in a setting of silver. Imagine like silver leaves surrounding it. It's fitting, it's beautiful, it's Precious.
[00:03:36] And when someone says good words, beautiful words that are healing or that are restorative in the right circumstances, it's a wonderful, fitting thing. For example, if someone speaks words of peace and reconciliation into a torn and broken relationship, that can be a beautiful, fitting thing.
[00:04:03] Words can be fitting in other ways.
[00:04:06] We know the appropriate, the proper greeting in just about every circumstance, don't we? Nine in the morning, you meet a friend. What do you say? You say good morning.
[00:04:18] This evening someone walked in the door, I won't say who, and said to me, pastor, good morning.
[00:04:24] And then took a double take and said, good evening. I must be tired.
[00:04:30] Words are said in the appropriate, the fitting, the right settings, right, and social occasions. We have this fitness, this properness, right? How you dress. For example, when you go to a wedding, you. You don't dress in the way you would dress if you were going to do some gardening, right? You put on some. A nice dress or a nice suit, maybe nicer clothes. And the same thing would be true if you were attending a funeral, right? There's proper fitting clothing for the occasion.
[00:05:00] Perhaps what's even more important than your clothing in both of those occasions, the wedding and the funeral, is your attitude or your demeanor. You should come to each occasion with the right inner sense of things.
[00:05:17] You should come to a wedding with joy and expectation and an attitude of celebration. Wonderful things are happening. But it would be inappropriate to come to a funeral with the same demeanor, wouldn't it? There we come with a more sober, somber, perhaps attitude, with a sense of a subdued feeling at the grief that we and the others around us are experiencing at the loss of. Of our loved one. There's a fitting demeanor and attitude for each occasion.
[00:05:53] Paul in our text is continuing to deal with this idea of the fitting or appropriate character that's proper. That's right, for a Christian who's come to believe the truths of the gospel.
[00:06:07] So last week we looked at the idea, the principle that there's this relationship between our life and doctrine. And the pastors, when they teach doctrine, they're also supposed to instruct in the Christian life. And then we begin to look at his first set of instructions for old men there in verse two. This week we're looking at what is proper for the older women. That'll be our theme this evening. What's proper for the older women?
[00:06:37] We'll look at it under two, or perhaps if we get there, three headings. First, we'll look at the proper reverence that older women are called to. Secondly, the proper restraint.
[00:06:50] And thirdly, proper growth in these things. So what is proper? What is Titus and pastors to instruct? How are they to instruct older women as Christians in what is proper first there to have a proper reverence.
[00:07:08] All of this, as we've been kind of explaining, laying it out, is Paul's.
[00:07:14] He's riffing, as it were. He's expanding on what he says in verse one. As for you, Titus, the pastor, you are to teach what accords with sound doctrine. He's applied it to the older men. Now he turns to the older women. We took that imagery last week of the Russian nesting dolls, if you remember those. And there's things about the dolls. There's the doll on the outside, right? You open it up, and then there's another one on the inside. You open that up, there's another one. They nest. There's things that are similar about all of the dolls. Usually they're the same color, right? But they might have different clothing painted on them. Right? In a similar fashion, Paul is saying that pastors need to address Christians at different ages, the different sexes, male and female, the young and the old. Christians in all walks of life are called to serve and to live as those who come to believe in the Lord Jesus, who've been changed by him. And as he goes through this list, now we come to the older women. Now, the first thing, first question we have immediately when we hear this.
[00:08:23] Well, now, Pastor, am I a young woman or am I an old woman?
[00:08:30] Okay, I'm not going to apply that label to you. I'm not going to get into modern thinking on this and our vanity here.
[00:08:38] But Paul doesn't give us a specific age, does he? You know, a modern book might, in parentheses, put an age range. Paul doesn't give us that. So am I an old woman or am I a young woman? You might be asking yourself. And. And the same with the men as you read this passage. Which group do I fit into?
[00:08:57] Well, there's basically two things that we can say about these terms, older and younger in this passage and in the New Testament more broadly. The first is that the word young is used young. Younger is used probably in a more broad way than we would typically.
[00:09:19] He's not just talking about the youth or the young people when he says young here in the New Testament. People as old as in their 30s are called young in the New Testament. So the age span of young here goes well beyond the teens into the 30s. That's the first thing we can say. The second thing we can say directly from this passage Is if you look down at verse three and verse four, the older women are to teach the younger women. And the younger women are those who are still bearing and raising children.
[00:09:57] The women who have children at home, they're caring for them, they're loving them, they're teaching and instructing them. And the older women, the women who are older, their children are out of the home. They have lots of experience as Christian mothers raising and loving their children. And they're to help the younger women who are still raising and training their children. They're to help them learn how to do this in a God honoring way. So that helps us. The younger women are still raising their children. The older women have got lots of experience in this. They have the time on their hands now that their children are out of the house. So that may help you, as you read this passage to think about, well, which category do I fit into?
[00:10:40] Think about it the way Paul's describing it. Am I still raising my children? Do I have lots of experience and some time on my hands now to go and help someone else? That might be a helpful way to think about this.
[00:10:53] So much for older and younger.
[00:10:59] Well, what is Paul primarily concerned with? And Titus and then pastors today, and then all of us.
[00:11:07] Primarily, he's concerned here with the character of the individuals. Just like with the older men, with the older women, the pastor is to be instructing God's people as to what does godly Christ honoring Christian character look like. What is proper or fitting for one who is a Christian woman, one who's come to believe in this sound doctrine.
[00:11:32] Now, what's fitting for that sound doctrine in life? And he sums it up in two words.
[00:11:38] One phrase, two words. They're to be reverent in behavior.
[00:11:44] Reverent in behavior.
[00:11:47] Well, what does that mean?
[00:11:50] Let's look at each word in turn. First, the word reverent. It's not a word we use that often, is it in English?
[00:11:59] This is referring. First of all, it's referring. The word reverence itself is referring to the inner state, the inner condition of the woman.
[00:12:11] How is this woman on her inside her inner life? You might say her heart, her soul, her way of thinking, her attitude, or another word we don't use very often, her disposition.
[00:12:24] It's the inside, the inner life that he's referring to as needing to be reverent.
[00:12:31] And secondly, now to say what it is that he's saying about the inner life of the woman.
[00:12:38] This word reverent is speaking of someone who is a worshipper of the true God it is speaking about the kind of heart attitude, the kind of inner life that a woman would have who worships the true God.
[00:12:57] She would be reverent. It's very much connected with her worshipful attitude, her worship experience in God's presence. Maybe think of it this way. To go back to an example, we used a person who goes to a funeral has a heart that's somber, that's grieving, and that reflects where you're at. You're in the presence, often at least historically, in the presence of the casket.
[00:13:28] Death is right before you, and it places you in a grieving mood here. This is the reverent heart attitude of a woman who has entered God's presence in worship.
[00:13:44] That's what he means by reverence here.
[00:13:47] Secondly, it's reverent behavior.
[00:13:50] Now, the word behavior is the right word. In other words, it's the right English translation of the Greek word. But the word behavior we tend to think of, like, actions and sort of external behavior, right, when we use the word behavior. So the word's a little bit thin. It doesn't quite capture everything Paul is trying to say when he says behavior.
[00:14:13] The word behavior has the idea here of the expression, the outward expression of the inner character or disposition of the woman, the outer expression of the inner disposition of the woman. Now you see why we took the time to explain reverent and how that had to do with the inner expression, life of the woman. This is the outward expression of that in her behavior.
[00:14:42] Now, the old words for this, and I can't really think of a good modern English word that really captures this idea, the old words would be your deportment. Or perhaps sometimes we still talk about a person's bearing.
[00:14:55] That kind of gets at the idea here.
[00:14:59] In a word, everything, everything that you say or do is an expression of what's on the inside. Think of it that way.
[00:15:12] Your face shows your anger, your tone of voice shows your sadness and joy.
[00:15:19] And of course, your words and your accents explicitly express this, right? But everything from the look on your face to the tone of voice, to the words you choose, to the way you say it, to your very actions, all of it is an expression of your inner life.
[00:15:36] That's the idea of behavior here. So putting them together, reverent behavior. Pastors are to instruct older women and all Christians remember the Russian nesting doll idea. These are things that are especially appropriate to each age group that he addresses, but in general, they apply to all believers. But pastors are to especially instruct older women to express the behavior of a woman whose heart has been changed so that she can enter the presence of God.
[00:16:14] God is a pure and holy God.
[00:16:20] If you're going to enter God's presence, you have to be made pure and holy.
[00:16:27] How does that happen?
[00:16:30] This is the doctrine part.
[00:16:34] Our hearts are purified through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as we believe in him and lay hold of him by faith. As we throw ourselves upon him for salvation.
[00:16:46] His cross work, his dying on the cross for us. His blood purifies us and washes away our sin.
[00:16:56] That's how one is made pure and allowed to enter into the presence of a pure and holy God. This is the reason Jesus came. You look at chapter two, verse 14.
[00:17:08] It says the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession.
[00:17:22] This is what Jesus came to do. To purify you, to take away your sin, to wash you clean from the inside out.
[00:17:35] And what was the chief reason? There's all sorts of effects of salvation, wonderful blessings we get in salvation. But one of the chief goals or ends of Christ saving us and purifying us was so that he could make us worshipers of the living and true God. So that he could take each one of you by the hand, having washed you clean, having clothed you in his righteousness, made you fit for God's presence, He could bring you before the Father so that you could draw near to the Father in worship.
[00:18:06] So most important thing we do is what we're going to do for all eternity, as why Jesus came, as why every Christian woman is saved and purified, so that she can enter the presence of the Father through Christ the Son and worship. That's what we're doing tonight.
[00:18:28] Now, such a person who's entered God's presence through the purifying blood of Christ, who's encountered God in His holiness, in his goodness, in his mercy.
[00:18:39] That woman is changed by that experience.
[00:18:43] That's what Paul's talking about here.
[00:18:45] It causes you, it develops in you a reverent heart as you approach God.
[00:18:54] And so this reverent heart of the woman and every Christian who daily approaches her heavenly Father, this reverent heart comes, it flows outward in reverent behavior, Godly living.
[00:19:11] The woman who encounters God in His holiness, she's humbled.
[00:19:17] Wow. God is pure, God is good.
[00:19:21] What a wonderful thing.
[00:19:24] We're humbled as we encounter God's mercy. What happens?
[00:19:31] We say, I'm an undeserving filthy sinner. And God purified me, and I didn't deserve it.
[00:19:39] Look at his compassion for me.
[00:19:42] And we're moved by his love and kindness towards us.
[00:19:47] And then we carry that reverence with us as we leave his presence.
[00:19:54] And that heart attitude, that reverent heart attitude shaped as we encounter God and His attributes, it flows outward from us.
[00:20:03] We encounter people, and now we begin to treat them with compassion.
[00:20:09] We would have treated them pridefully, but now we're humbled.
[00:20:15] Starting to get a taste of what Paul is describing here by reverent behavior and just underscoring it one more time. It's not just women that are called to reverent behavior. It's all believers.
[00:20:27] But it's especially befitting older Christian women who have lived in God's presence day after day on their knees in prayer before him, that they would be changed by this to express this reverent behavior. So there's the proper reverence.
[00:20:46] Paul also has some negatives here, and we're going to look at them in, in terms of the idea of proper restraint.
[00:20:54] If the Christian, and especially the Christian woman here has been purified from the inside out, and if she's experiencing God's holiness and goodness and worship, then Paul says these two things should never characterize her.
[00:21:12] And the two things he points out are also two particular snares for older women.
[00:21:18] He says they're not to be malicious gossips or slanderers, and they're not to be slaves to much wine.
[00:21:28] They're not to be slanderers.
[00:21:31] Now, literally the word here is accusers or false accusers.
[00:21:36] Hence slander or malicious gossip.
[00:21:40] What's going on here? Why does Paul address this to older women?
[00:21:44] Well, the older women have more time on their hands. The younger women have children on their hands. The older women, their children are grown up, they got some time. What do they do? They go about visiting their friends, perhaps.
[00:21:56] And when they do, they talk about each other.
[00:21:59] And then they start to talk about the people they know.
[00:22:02] And then before you know, they've talked about everyone and they've begun to gossip.
[00:22:09] In 1 Timothy 5, Paul particularly connects this gossip or slander with the idleness of young widows. He says they've got time on their hands and the result is gossip. First Timothy 5:13, he says that these young widows who no longer have obligations to their husbands, they become idle. He says besides, they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not if that's true of the younger women, how much more of the older women, those whose children are out of the house and they've got lots of time on their hands.
[00:22:57] Now, let's talk about gossip for just a minute.
[00:23:02] Gossip.
[00:23:03] The gossiping tongue especially delights in talking not just about people generally, but it especially delights in talking about bad things that happen to people, or especially the bad things that people do.
[00:23:20] And that's where it moves over from just gossip generally to this slander or these false accusations that Paul is talking about, these juicy little tidbits about the bad things that people do.
[00:23:36] Did you hear about so and so and what he did, what his wife did to him and so on?
[00:23:44] I want to go down one level more.
[00:23:48] The word accuser here. It's deliberate and there's a little bit of imagery in this word, the Greek word. I don't usually bring up Greek words, but the Greek word here is a word you're familiar with.
[00:24:04] It's the word diabolos.
[00:24:07] It's the word where we get our English word diabolical, the devil, or devilish.
[00:24:15] The Greek word for devil, is this very word.
[00:24:20] Because the devil is the accuser of the brethren.
[00:24:25] He's the one who accuses God's people, accuses them falsely, often.
[00:24:33] In other words, to be an accuser, to be diabolical here, to go around making false, slanderous accusations, malicious gossip against others, to. To gossip is to join with the enemy, to go over to his side, to behave and to become like the accuser.
[00:24:57] Now, you can immediately see that this is not proper for any Christian, but also for Christian women, those especially those who are older, who've matured, who've spent time in God's presence, becoming like the accuser of God's brethren, God's people, my brethren, this is not fitting.
[00:25:21] Secondly, Paul says that she needs to show proper restraint by not being enslaved to much wine.
[00:25:32] This one's probably pretty straightforward.
[00:25:35] The alcohol. Alcohol has a particular draw to it when we use it, especially if we use it in the excess. But even as we begin using it, we begin to feel a little better. And then so we have a little more. So we feel a little bit more better.
[00:25:52] And the better we feel using the alcohol, the more we forget our troubles, the more our pain is dulled.
[00:26:01] We're not worried anymore.
[00:26:04] And of course, other things, all sorts of things we can say about it.
[00:26:08] If young mothers are tempted to turn to alcohol because their children are difficult, they're tired from working hard all day long, their husband Comes home and he doesn't understand, and they're tempted to turn to alcohol. How much more? The older women, they have time on their hands, and they have time on their hands to think about their troubles.
[00:26:33] And their troubles are usually more. Their children are passed on, and they've piled up all sorts of troubles of life.
[00:26:41] Not just aches and pains of the body, which are painful themselves, but the heartaches and heart pains of life.
[00:26:50] Loss of loved ones, loss and pain in relationships. These build up as you grow older, and it becomes harder and the temptation to numb becomes stronger.
[00:27:09] But alcohol and drugs never deliver on what they promise, do they?
[00:27:16] Instead of giving you relief, they enslave. And that's the word Paul uses here, not being enslaved to much wine. Instead of giving freedom and relief, they become a new master that enslaves you.
[00:27:35] And this new master does not want to let you go.
[00:27:40] Dear Christian woman and dear believer, all of you, you have been set free from your old master, the devil, the diabolical one.
[00:27:54] You no longer are a slave.
[00:27:58] You don't belong to him. You belong to your new master, Jesus Christ.
[00:28:03] You're his. Your heart is his.
[00:28:06] Your life is his.
[00:28:09] You belong to Jesus, and it was for freedom that Christ set you free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1.
[00:28:27] Jesus is not just your master.
[00:28:31] He's your loving, heavenly bridegroom.
[00:28:35] He's your beloved.
[00:28:37] He gave himself his life for you. He hung on the cross to set you free.
[00:28:45] Give your heart to him.
[00:28:47] Take your pain and your troubles and your anxieties and all of it to him, and he will heal you.
[00:28:58] He's the King of joy, of love, of freedom. He's your king.
[00:29:05] Dear Christian woman, your mouth belongs to Jesus.
[00:29:13] He purchased it with his blood.
[00:29:17] He purchased it so that you would sing his praises, so that as he brings you near to the Father, you would speak well of Jesus, your king, and your bridegroom, before the Father.
[00:29:34] This is true of every Christian, like Isaiah. God has drawn near to you with a coal, and he's placed it on your lips, and he's purified your tongue, and he's purified your heart.
[00:29:51] And that coal came from the altar of Christ's sacrifice.
[00:29:57] Jesus shed his blood to wash the filth away from your lips and your tongue.
[00:30:04] There should not be a single slanderous, gossiping accusation that comes forth from our mouths.
[00:30:15] Think of it another way, not just in terms of purification, but Jesus hung on the cross for you. What does that mean? That means when he hung on the cross, he took on himself every single accusation that you and I deserved, and they were all true.
[00:30:36] But he took all the accusations and he says, I'll bear them, Father, that you would forgive my sheep.
[00:30:47] There are no more accusations left for us to bring.
[00:30:51] Jesus has borne them all.
[00:30:54] We have no room for accusations and gossip.
[00:31:00] We are called to proper restraint in passions and in tongue.
[00:31:09] How do we grow?
[00:31:11] We're called away from sin, right gossip, enslaved to wine, and we're called to reverent behavior.
[00:31:22] How do you grow in what's proper, what's fitting?
[00:31:28] Whatever age we are young, old, male, female, we're called to grow as Christians. How do we grow? There are lots of models for this. As you read through the Bible, you think of John, chapter 15. Jesus says, I'm the vine and you are the branches abiding me, and you will bear fruit. You're going to grow and be healthy if you abide in me.
[00:31:54] If you look back at chapter two, verse one, here, there's another model. As you teach what accords with sound doctrine, you can think of it this way.
[00:32:03] Every sound doctrine, whether it's God and his power and his providence, his mercy shown to us in Christ on the Cross. Any doctrine you can take, and you can relate it to Christian living and godly character, it ought to shape us. And the other way around, you can take any one of these godly Christian characteristics that we're called to grow in. And you can, as you think about them and as you search the Scriptures, you can begin to see that there are doctrines that undergird and draw you to grow in those Christian characteristics.
[00:32:37] It's not doctrine over here and life over here, but doctrine and life together. They're two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other. That's a second way to think of it, and there's lots more.
[00:32:51] But we have a clue in our verse here to one of the ways that we can grow in proper reverence.
[00:33:02] Jesus, we've said, came to purify us and make us worshipers of God so that we could enter God's presence.
[00:33:11] He came, he changed us so that we could be near to God.
[00:33:16] And this attitude, this disposition, this heart state of reverence grows as we spend time in worshiping God.
[00:33:29] What does Jesus say in Matthew, chapter six? He says, don't be like the hypocrites who pray with a loud voice on the the street corners. Instead, go to the closet in secret where your heavenly Father is.
[00:33:44] In other words, when you go to pray to God. You are entering his presence in worship, and you are called to pray all the time, every day. Colossians 4. Devote yourselves to prayer. Be alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
[00:34:03] We, all of us as Christians, are called every day, all the time, to be turning to our Father, entering His presence in prayer.
[00:34:12] And every time we come to our Heavenly Father in prayer, what happens? We bow our hearts before the Father and we come near to him through Jesus, through his blood and through his work as our high priest. We talked about Jesus bringing us to the Father. That's what he does as high priest. We come near to God through the Son.
[00:34:38] We meet with God in Christ Jesus and we encounter Him. He's there.
[00:34:47] We bring our needs to Him, Our praises to Him. And as we encounter God, we encounter him as he reveals Himself to us through His Son.
[00:34:58] And there, as we pray and plead with him, to hear us plead with him to deal with our sin, as we pour our hearts out to him in adoration, we encounter, we really, truly meet with God.
[00:35:13] And there, as you pray and you meet with him in his almighty power, you're humbled.
[00:35:21] That reverent spirit within you is humbled before the Father and His power.
[00:35:26] As you experience the greatness of his power, how he upholds the whole universe and every atom, you become convinced in your heart of hearts that God's providential power and care is real and that I'm in His grip at all times.
[00:35:48] Your heart has changed.
[00:35:52] You encounter the pure holiness of God. What flows forth? Well, among other things, we learn to fear in a good way, fear a holy God.
[00:36:04] And as you encounter his mercy and compassion every time you go and you seek forgiveness and you feel that peace in your heart that comes only because God works in you by His Spirit, saying, I've forgiven you, dear child.
[00:36:17] You encounter the mercy and compassion of your Heavenly Father for Jesus sake. And your heart is filled with a sense of his love for you, undeserving mercy and compassion.
[00:36:28] And that reverence grows.
[00:36:34] And you come out of the presence of your Heavenly Father changed.
[00:36:40] And you begin to walk around and live life. And.
[00:36:44] And this reverent heart begins to express itself in reverent behavior.
[00:36:51] Something bad happens to you, maybe a car accident, unexpected.
[00:36:59] What could run through your mind? And this is going to cost so much, my premiums are going to go up.
[00:37:07] Oh, no. What could happen?
[00:37:09] What's happened to the other driver? This could be really expensive. All sorts of things could go through your mind in terror, right?
[00:37:16] But you get out of Your car gripped by a reverent fear and love of God. And as one who fears God, you know that your words and your actions need to show a fear and love for a holy God.
[00:37:37] Your heart is gripped with God's power and his providence. You say, you know this was a part of his plan.
[00:37:44] So when I go out to speak to the other driver, the policeman, I need to rest in God's care for me. And I can speak from a place of peace. And knowing God's care, what if someone speaks evil words to you? Surely this happens from time to time.
[00:38:03] Neighbor says something rude, A loved one wants to hurt your feelings in anger and bitterness.
[00:38:10] How does that reverential heart respond in behavior?
[00:38:15] One who fears God, who knows his holiness, would not dare repay evil for evil, but leaves vengeance for God.
[00:38:25] In fact, when you've been impressed with the mercy of God in your heart day after day, you don't want vengeance. You want him to know the same forgiveness and compassion that you experience every day in the presence of your Father.
[00:38:45] And as you contemplate the providence of God and this terrible words being said to you, you think to yourself, God brought this into my life.
[00:38:58] These nasty words came to me by divine appointment.
[00:39:02] This is my chance to show the kindness of God to this dear person who needs to know the mercy and forgiveness of the Heavenly Father.
[00:39:16] Reverent behavior flows forth from a heart and mind shaped in the worship of a holy, loving God.
[00:39:27] You want to know one of the ways to proper growth and reverent behavior?
[00:39:32] Spend time on your knees in the presence of your Father.
[00:39:37] Well, Paul instructs us as to what's proper for older women.
[00:39:41] Reverent behavior. We know it's proper for all believers.
[00:39:46] We're all called to be reverent from the inside out.
[00:39:52] It's fitting. And if we were to summarize all of this in one way, it's fitting that those who've come to faith in Jesus Christ, who've been purchased by his blood and delivered from their sins, that they be drawn to Christ continually.
[00:40:07] That we would be continually drawn near to him, filled with love and compassion and mercy, so that we would live for him and to the glory of God. Let's pray.
[00:40:25] Our God and our savior, We have entered your presence tonight and we have come near to you only because you call and draw us with that almighty, powerful Holy Spirit who indwells us as he draws us near to you. He applies Christ and His work to us.
[00:40:56] And we know that we are forgiven, that we are received, that you reach out to us, as it were, with hugs and kisses, that we are that Prodigal Son that you receive with love and with joy.
[00:41:12] And O God, we confess that we are very much like that prodigal Son, that we have lived in all manner of sin and evil.
[00:41:21] But we thank you that you receive us not for who we are or what we have done, but for the sake of your son.
[00:41:29] Lord our God, we ask that you would fill us with a zeal, a great and holy zeal to be ever near you.
[00:41:39] That we would learn to enter your presence and to delight in it. That we would find all those blessings of salvation that you offer us in Christ. That we would learn to find them in your presence as we plead with you in prayer.
[00:41:57] And our Father, we ask that as we receive them from your hand, that we would be those who are changed, that we would be new creatures, changed from the inside out by the power of your spirit, making us into a new creation.
[00:42:17] And that from us would shine forth that light of the Lord Jesus Christ, that his love, his goodness, his compassion, his mercy, his faithfulness. That all these things would be reflected in us, to your glory and to even the salvation of the lost, that they might be drawn to you as we serve you.
[00:42:38] In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
