GOD’S “OLDER MEN”– Part 3-(Titus 2:2)

Older Men Are To Be “SENSIBLE”-

The Demoniac .- (Read Mark 5:1-20)

The herdsmen came to see what had happened and the First thing they noticed about the man whom Jesus delivered from the demons was that he was “clothed and in his RIGHT MIND.”-(v15)

The results? He wanted to BE WITH Jesus, FOLLOW Jesus, he OBEYED Jesus, and PROCLAIMED Jesus! -(Read v 18-20).

And like the demoniac, Paul too who once tried to destroy Christians had a change of mind, indeed he was now in his “right mind” after the LORD saved him – he too wanted to be with Him, follow Him, obey Him and he went about proclaiming Jesus. A “Right mind” thinks differently- progressively right about God, His will, and eats as revealed in His Word!

A “SAVED MINDSET” is a “Right Mind” for it is aligned with God’s purpose and priorities for the person. They are going in a different direction, thinking a different way than how they used to or to those around them who are without a living relationship with God through our LORD Jesus Christ!

This “new man” has a change of direction, occupation of thought – Jesus Christ becomes more than a curse word but a treasured Person for “unto us who believe He is precious.”-( 1Peter 2:7). His new “MINDSET” influences his motivation and choices!

Paul tells Titus to teach the older men to continually exercise a “SENSIBLE” mind. It is one that is “SELF-CONTROLLED” SOUND MIND, behaving “WISELY” curbing their impulses and passions- self-controlled!

We have been looking at the 6 marks that the “Older men” are to exercise and be characterized as Godly examples to the congregation in Titus 2:2.

And the third of the six words is “SENSIBLE.” “Sophron” is the Greek word. And it’s made up of two Greek words that mean “safe,” and “ mind” and meaning a “SAVED MIND!”

“Sophron taken back to its root means a ” SAVED MINDSET” coming right out of a person’s salvation so that his thinking has been flipped over from the “AM” band of the World to the “FM” band of the Spirit and he now has the ability to think the way God wants him to think and can act the way God wants him to act. He controls his physical passions, rejects worldly standards, and resists worldly attractions because like Paul, by God’s grace, he has learned to “ THINK so as to have SOUND JUDGEMENT ” (Romans12:3-)

He has come to learn that to be “in control” as he is “under control” of the Holy Spirit (cf Gal 5:23, Eph 5:18-).”-(preceptaustin)

Here is a wonderful thought-

The last part of sophron (phren) means “BRAKES” in modern Greece. And it communicates that the man knows it’s when to “STOP,” when to put the “BRAKES” on! When to say “ No!” He has discernment. Some people start and don’t know when to stop, the “SENSIBLE” man has the wisdom and self-control to know.

This man “governs well his passions and affections, so as not to be hurried away by them to anything that is evil or indecent.”-( Henry)

The “Sensible” has experienced life’s up and downs, and have come to have a commitment to truth and to what is right, and are strengthened in their mind and have the wisdom to control themselves. “SENSIBLE,” not irrational. He is discreet in his speech and executes discernment. He is in his “right mind,” increasingly aligned with God’s mind for him as revealed in His Word! He lives out a “ SAVED MINDSET!” Again not perfection but the direction he is increasingly living this out!

The “SENSIBLE” man is in control because He lives under the control of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God! Not perfection but this is the direction of his life!

The Christian “OLDER MEN” are to be characterized by being “temperate, dignified, SENSIBLE, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.”

The “OLDER MEN,” are entrusted by God to model Godliness as a testimony! As long as you are breathing as an “Older Man,” you have a God-given purpose, and responsibility to live out your “SAVED MINDSET,” expressed in sensible, self-controlled wise thinking, thinking with sound judgment, and actions!

God has specific roles for the “older men,” and “older women” in the congregation to benefit the younger generation as Titus 2 outlines! They have a place and purpose in God’s church.

Temptations in Old Age ;

Often in “older” years several new temptations face the men, for example, a man can live in regret, and socially withdraw, depressed from past failures or sins or the circumstances they find themselves in. They turn INWARD and spiral downward into despair. They have taken their eyes off Him and either do not know or neglect the ministry God has for them in Titus 2:2

Another trap can come through “retirement” and the vigilant need h to watch out for selfishness as though this “free time” is “their “time” to spend on themselves and they neglect the Work of God, the opportunities to invest in the lives of others because they neglect God!

May God help us “OLDER MEN” to take serious Titus 2:2 and apply it to our lives for the sake of those around us and those who come behind us!

“Older men are to be temperate, dignified, SENSIBLE, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

God bless

Aidan