>> One minute. >> All right. Let's compose ourselves. All right. Let's compose ourselves. All right. I'm going to go ahead and open us up in a word of prayer. Father, as we have just discussed, help us not to forget the why behind all these applications we're exhorted to have in our lives.

Ultimately, it's for your glory, for adorning the doctrine of our God, our Savior, and help us, Lord God, to leave here after the teaching, after the sharing and the praying, just longing to just be better representatives of your truth. So would you minister to us in this time of short feeding and help us to really apply appropriately in all these things we pray in Jesus' name?

So the first couple slides is a review of last week, but I felt like it's important because the context of what we're looking at today is the same. Okay? So the whole thrust is how should we behave as Christians? And if you guys noticed the repetition of good deeds and show yourself, that showed up twice today.

Najarez, if you saw that, show, show, right? It's to be measurable, right? Are Christians supposed to judge Christians, I mean, in the best of ways? Absolutely, right? Our works are supposed to be visible. So how should we behave as Christians is what we're looking at in chapters 2, verses 1 through 10.

And as we looked at the why should we behave as Christians is actually more important. So one, it's to be a good example to the next generation of Christians, to be faithful stewards of the word of God, nonbelievers and scoffers, that they may be silenced, and that we as Christians can make the doctrine of God attractive and beautiful to nonbelievers.

So that's, like, all the qualities, even if you're an older man, some of the things that are in the qualities for younger women, we should strive to excel at those things too, right, where appropriate. So the ultimate point in chapter 2 really is the evangelistic impact of a spiritually healthy congregation.

It's not for our well-being, it really is for God's glory, and that's the thrust. And like I shared with you last week, when I break it down, I look at all the--like, I'm just doing this in English, and I look at this, and I have all the commands on the side.

And I discovered today that in chapter 2, verse 9, that urge is not in the command. So then I'll go back, and I will-- and you guys notice that? It's italicized. It's implied from previous verses. But all of these are commands given to Titus. These are the groups. And today we looked at young men, Titus himself, and bond slaves, and there are four hinnas, the so-that's, right?

And that's the reason why we are called to do these things. And so whenever you look at a chapter, it's also important not to get lost in the nitty-gritty details of, like, one particular verse. You want to look at it in the context of the whole. All right? So because a lot of what we looked at today is similar to elements for the elders in chapter 1 and the things that we looked at last week, I'm going to do something a little bit different today.

I'm going to go over one word, "sensible," and then I'm going to look at bond slaves and how it relates to us, and that's-- hopefully it's going to be a little bit shorter. So here's chapter 2, verse 6. It says, "Sensible, likewise urge the young men to be sensible," and this word "sensible," now it's the fourth time it's shown up.

It's going to show up again next week in an adverb form. Okay? So the word "sensible" is "sophron," and it's very--it's a very talented word because it can take the shape of many different meanings. Okay? So the way I read the word "sensible," "sophron," it really is having the mind of Christ.

Okay, having a balanced mind of Christ, being sound, spiritual mind. All right? So here the definition is "possessing mental and emotional composure," not being distracted, not impulsive, but focused, and this was a requirement for pastors, elders. It's a requirement for older men, for younger women, and here for the younger men as well.

Okay? And this is how elsewhere in the New Testament the word "sensible" has been used. So to give you the multi-talented usages of this word "sensible," to kind of give you a mean-- like a better feel for the meaning of the word "sensible." Mark 5:15, this is the demoniac, okay?

"They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and sophron." The very man who had the legion, and they became frightened. So this is almost made whole, restored. Demon has been cast out. He is now sophron. Another way it's being used, Romans 12:3, "For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to sophron, have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each man each a measure of faith." So here is an objective humility as well, right?

Humility is not insecurity or like inferiority complex. If you are really good at something, saying you're not is not humility. That's just disguised pride, right? But here, understanding that all that we've been given is from the grace of God, just being a humble person with a sound mind, okay, is also a way sophron is used.

2 Corinthians 5, 13-14, this is Paul talking about his cohorts, "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died." So here's an element of a very contained, controlled zeal, okay?

1 Peter 4, 7, "The end of all things is near, therefore be sophron." So thinking clearly. And in Ephesians 5, 18, like we looked at last week, being filled with the spirit. Really, right? Like just don't be drunk on wine, or Netflix, or video games, or the internet, or Facebook, or social media, nothing.

Just be filled with the spirit is another way I would describe sophron, sensible. It's a fruit of the spirit. The word sophron doesn't show up in the fruit of the spirit, but its adjectives, or its, what do you call it, synonyms do, alright? And the reason I wanted to do it like this is because sophron is mentioned often in all these lists, okay?

And it comes in different shapes and colors, but all of it really is having the mind of Christ, okay? And not being, not having that mind distracted or perverted in any way. So I'm gonna get to some fun stuff here. We're gonna look at verse 9 and 10. "Urge bond slaves to be subject to their own masters "and everything to be well-pleasing, "not argumentative, not pilfering, "but showing all good faith "so that they will adorn the doctrine of God, "our Savior, in every respect." I'm just gonna be looking at the word masters.

The Greek word is despotis. It sounds like what? Despot, okay? So it denotes a person with absolute power and authority. Now the slavery, or the master-slave relationship that we think of in more modern history, it is different from that of biblical times, okay? So there is more of an employee-employer feel, just minus any kind of union protection, all right?

Just think of it like that. You have no rights. But it's not like the slavery that we're thinking of when we're looking at, like, Civil War, okay? So a despotis really is a master. One question that I asked as I was preparing this was like, in Colossians, there's actually requirements for Christian masters, too.

How come in Titus there's nothing about masters? I thought that just was interesting. Were there no Cretan Christian masters at this time? Only bond slaves? Bond slaves seem to have a lot of freedom. They can pilfer. They can talk back. It's like, how dare you, right? So there's stuff that these masters have power over in terms of a person.

Okay? And here's just something that, like, on his commentary on Titus that John MacArthur wrote that I just wanted to share. If bond slaves are obligated to submit to their absolute and often cruel and arbitrary masters, how much more are free believers obligated to submit to an employer, even one who is mean, unreasonable, and overbearing?

And we're going to--I'm going to talk about this toward the end. But in your workplaces, there is a master figure, right? So I want to see how verses 9 through 10 apply to us, okay? So verse 9, it talks about, "In everything to be well-pleasing." Okay? Then that causes you, if you're a very good Bible student, to start asking all kinds of inductive questions.

What does "in everything" mean? Right? If they tell us to go kill somebody, do we do that? If they tell us to lie and change this form or submit a faulty report, is that what we do? Right? And you guys inevitably may come to situations where you're actually asked to do stuff like-- that goes against your conscience, right?

So one thing that's tricky about making absolutes-- we're going to get to one in chapter 3 where it says, "Remind them to be obedient to the authorities." It's like, "Ooh, but what does that mean?" Right? So when the Scripture commands us to do something like this, and then we also know in Scriptures, like Acts 5:28-29, we must obey God rather than men.

Wait, which one are we to apply? Right? Acts 25, 28-29, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men." So now there are probably going to be many, like, "But what about..." kind of questions that come into your mind.

But I'm going to try to keep it simple. As far as it doesn't cause you to have to sin or compromise, truth. Here it says, "Be subject to your masters in everything." As far as--however far you have to go, "Be subject to your own masters in everything to the point where, or as long as, it doesn't cause you to have to sin or compromise truth." Okay?

Now, there's tension already. Okay? I'm going to unpack this a little bit. Titus 2--or 1 Peter 2, 18-19 in Colossians 3 also give us additional instructions on how bond slaves are to be toward their masters. 1 Peter 2, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly." Colossians 3, 1-3, and then 22-24. We're looking at our identity first, and then the exhortations to slaves. "Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." So that's the premise of the beginning of Colossians, and here's one application for slaves. "Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Whatever you do, do your work heartily. Ask for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." Now, obviously, there are going to be some differences between the situation of the bond slaves in Crete to our situations being workers in Orange County, United States in 2021, but just draw the appropriate parallels, okay?

If you are an employee, and you have an employer, okay? Can that be-- can the bond slave master illustration be applicable to your situation, yes or no? Yeah. Raise your hand if you have an employer. Okay, that's most of you. If you're a boss, there's nothing in here about bosses, so we're going to leave you alone for tonight, all right?

But most of us are employees. So when you're trying to figure out how to honor the Lord by applying these verses in Titus, 1 Peter, Colossians appropriately, there are going to be times where it's very uncomfortable trying to figure out what is the best way to, like, be faithful to what the scriptures are telling me to do and being very unhappy at work, right?

Like, the owner is nudging me towards some kind of a compromise. How do I--right? There's going to be a lot of situations that will make you feel uncomfortable, and that's normal, okay, because we're living in a fallen world. But in Colossians, at the end, it actually says it's the Lord Christ whom you serve.

So have you thought about this question? At your workplace, are you serving the Lord? If you've never asked this question, shame on you, because you've, like, you've--what do you call that? Like, just divided your spheres of life, right? I'm at work. I'm all in it for me and my future and my career and blah, blah, blah.

At church, I'm a holy, moly Christian. At home, kind of like a combination of the two. I don't know. But one thing that I wanted to emphasize tonight is that if you are an employee anywhere, you are a missionary. Nod your heads if you understand. It's not try to be a missionary.

You are. You are a representative of Christ in that place. Just by default. Unless you've never shared with anybody about your faith, about church, okay, then that's a different problem in and of itself. But in this area where there is a human master under whom you're supposed to be subject at work for some kind of compensation, obviously, you are a Christian bond slave.

And as a Christian bond slave, it is the Lord Christ whom you are serving in that arena, whether you realize it or not. Okay? So the thing that I want to emphasize, because we don't need to go into all the, like, what does this word mean, what does that word mean, because this section has kept it, for the most part, pretty simple.

But the things that I wanted to challenge you with, tonight's more of a pastoral, like, let's really get to the nitty-gritty of where the rubber meets the road. In your workplace, in your mission field, are you regularly preparing for and engaging in spiritual combat? In your mission field, are you gearing up really for spiritual combat?

Are you there to make money or to glorify the Lord? Are you there to put in your time, or in your mission field, do you have a concern and a care for souls? And if you're going to, we're going to look at verse 11, and you're going to see why I'm making this jump.

Okay, it's not a jump. It's a natural, logical flow. Are you caring about the souls that are at your job? So for me, sometimes I wonder, people who prefer to work remote. You're so selfish, and I don't know who you are, so I can just say that at a blanket.

If you consider the totality of your life as a missionary while you're here, and the obsession for every Christian is the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations by going, baptizing, and teaching them to do everything that Christ has taught, right? If the obsession of your life is to glorify God and to build his church and to save the lost, are you handling the place where you are spending most of your week well?

Shame on you if you prefer working remote. And again, commute and all this stuff, I'm just throwing out as a blanket statement, because how are you going to reach those people if you don't get face-to-face time with them? How are you going to build relationships to win them over to Christ if you don't want to have anything to do with them?

And you're more worried about your comfort and your convenience, be able to work on your pajamas, wake up and just do this with your eyes and just get to work. Second question, in your mission field, are you making progress in silencing every anti-Christian critic? Or are you the one that, like, you're a Christian and everyone knows you're a Christian, but people don't think you're that great a worker?

Are you well-pleasing? Or are you argumentative? Are you pilfering your boss's time? Okay, those are things that you need to consider. Third, are you showing yourself to be trustworthy in everything when the boss is not looking at your workplace? Because remember, it is the Lord Christ whom you are serving.

Are you being a good witness to other fellow bond slaves who might not be Christian bond slaves, but they're also there? Are you a good bond slave, making the gospel attractive to other bond slaves? Are you willing to make sacrifices to be a more effective missionary? If you were to say, "Hey, Pastor Peter, I want to go to China," most likely, I'll tell you, have some sellable skill, because people aren't going to-- like, they're not always down to support you, and that financial support, it's going to dry up.

So if you want to do mission work, one of the best things to do is to be a tent maker, which means you're just a Christian in a cross-cultural context, and the only reason you're working is just to make ends meet, because your job there is not your goal.

What is your goal in the mission field? To be a missionary. Why is that different here? Right? So we're willing to make sacrifices to go out of our comfort zone only if he calls us abroad to be a missionary, but you don't realize that same call is for you where you're at right now.

You're supposed to, even if it means, "I will stay at this job "even if that job can offer me better, like, package. "I will stay here because there are souls to be won here." Are you actively looking for opportunities to share? And I think this is such an important topic to discuss with us, because a lot of us think of our careers being something that exists for our happiness and our comfort.

That's a worldly desire. That's ungodliness. If you guys have memorized Titus 2, you know what happens in verse 12? "For the grace of God has appeared, "bringing salvation to all men," verse 12, "instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, "but to live sensibly, righteously, godly in the present age." Okay?

So we're going to get there. This is like a--just--we're transitioning into that. But you thinking your career is for you is a very immature Christian thought. Nod your heads if you understand what I'm trying to get at. Your job is a vehicle to give glory to God and to save souls.

Think of that next time you look at the packages that are offered to you. Hey, but because if someone goes to China as a missionary, someone decides to go to India as a missionary, you're not expecting them to take the best financial package. Oh, no. They've forsaken the world.

They've taken up the cross, and they've committed to follow Christ. But that's for those guys. That's not for us here. And that's a lot harder to shake than anything else in our culture where we live. Okay? So I'm picking on verses 9 and 10 because sometimes when we look at this and we scrutinize it academically, we kind of forget the heart behind this.

You as a bond slave with an earthly master, you as a missionary in whatever mission field you're in, you're supposed to make this doctrine of God our Savior attractive in every respect. Is that verse 10? Yeah. To cosmeo the doctrine of God in every respect. Are you faithful to that where you're spending 40-plus hours a week?

Okay? And so I want to close with this Romans 12, 1 to 3. Romans is the book we all go to for just pure gospel, like doctrinal richness. And then if you guys have studied Romans, 1 through 11 is a lot of theology and doctrine. 12 and on is application.

So here's chapter 12 of Romans. This is, like, where it transitions, okay? "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, "to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice "acceptable to God, "which is your spiritual service of worship. "Do not be conformed to this world, "but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, "henna, so that you may prove what the will of God is, "that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

"For through the grace given to me, "I say to everyone among you, "not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, "but to think so as to have sofron, "as God has allotted to each measure of faith." You're not the first Christian on this planet. You don't exist for you.

You're created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. That's your identity as a Christian. Amen? So are you going to be so-- are you going to have a sofron mentality? Here's just two things recently that I found that was very helpful for me. So just kind of think clearly here.

The gospel, Paul Washer says, does not call us to receive Christ as an addition to our life, but as our life. Amen? But is that true of you in your workplace? Martin Luther uses this word "bondslave," so I think that's why it caught my eye. "The will of man without the grace of God is not free at all, "but is the permanent prisoner and bondslave of evil, "since it cannot turn itself to good." But you know what Titus teaches us?

We've been free because of who? Because of Christ. So you're no longer a slave to sin. It's also elaborated on in Romans 8. On earth, you may be a slave, but you're not a slave to sin. So live as free men. So the question today is, as you are called to be a bondslave who is a missionary in your earthly master's home, are you trustworthy?

Are you excellent? Are you adorning the gospel in every respect? Or are you pilfering? Are you argumentative? Are you selfish? Because there are gospel ramifications to your witness at work. And your families. Some of you guys, I mean, sometimes you come in for counseling and say, "Oh yeah, I'm having trouble with my non-Christian mom "or my non-Christian dad." And maybe you consider maybe it's your fault.

Maybe you're the one hindering them with certain attitudes. Or maybe they see you as more religious and kind of insane than sound. So today, that verse 9 and 10 of this bondslave mentality will bleed into the doctrine-heavy section next week. And I want to just give us a little bit of a head start, okay?

Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything to be well-pleasing and not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect. Why? For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live so fraught, sensibly, righteously, godly in the present age.

The point of all these lists is not to be a better Christian. That's a natural byproduct. The point of all of this is to say, God is real, God is good, he died for me, not just to save me, but to transform me, to make me a new creation.

The old is gone and the new has come. And that's changed every fabric of my being. So whether I eat or drink, I do it all for the glory of God. Whether I'm filling out a spreadsheet or doing a presentation, whether I'm driving a client, whether I'm fixing up something that's completely meaningless, if there's a coffee spill, I don't wait for someone else to do it, I'll come and do it.

And guess what happens? Your non-Christian workers will have nothing bad to say. They will look at you and be like, "Dang, what does that person have that I don't?" I'm not going to embarrass this person, but one of the most encouraging things I heard about 17, 18 years ago at Berean was there was a person whose co-worker came to church and was there for about a month.

And the reason, like, the person said that they came to visit the church was, this individual, this person is such a beautiful person. I had to come to the church to check out what makes him/her tick. And I was like, "Dang, that's a good witness." That person comes in on Saturday?

That person, before I even ask, takes care of stuff? And again, I'm hearing this through other channels. But I remember 17, 18 years ago hearing that, I'm like, "Wow, this person's pretty cool." Can you be that kind of a witness at your job? So that even without saying anything, that there's something magnetic about the way you do your work.

When people see you, there's an aroma of Christ. And they can't quite put a finger on what it is, but you're weird, you're different. Is that how you can work? Because whether or not you realize it, you're either a good missionary or a horrible one. You guys following this?

And why is all of our behavior and action important? Verse 11, salvation is here. And for some mysterious reason, God chooses to use man to bring other men to the place where their eyes are open and see the glory of God. So what I want you guys to do in your groups, a lot of this is not heavy, it's just like a little slap to be like, "Oh yeah, we're missionaries here." To think through, what is--like, I need to fix this.

I need to be more sensible. One, in what ways is our workplace a mission field? Have we been faithful missionaries? Two, how are you in your speech, in your doctrine? In what areas do you need prayer coverage to help you to be sensible? One thing is, I don't like sharing prayer requests.

Not me personally. But sometimes when I hear your prayer requests, I'm like, "That's not a prayer request. That's like a wish list to Santa." What a prayer request is, is I'm in spiritual warfare, trying to figure out how to-- like, my struggle is not against flesh and blood, it's against the principalities.

I need help. Right? I struggle with pride. I struggle with anger. I struggle with addiction. I struggle with just resentment toward my boss. Help me. And maybe tomorrow will be a different day. Okay, so those are what I call prayer coverage, in order for you to be more so front.

All right? So next week is this doctrinal, 2.11-15. We're just going in five-verse clumps now. But I would like us to wrap up with this. Okay? Let me pray for us. Father, help us to represent you well to this dark and dying world. Lord, not for our benefit, but ultimately for your joy and for your glory.

And I pray, Father God, that you would help us in this endeavor, for it's easy for us to get distracted, to drift, and forget. Lord, we love you and help our lives to really match just the things that we say, we believe, and the things that we feel. Help it to match.

And by your grace, Lord, would you save souls through just our prayers and through our witness. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.