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How to Encourage Faith in Families (Titus 2:1-10)
by Norman and Ann Bales
All About Families

Part One: The Challenge of Keeping Faith Alive in Our Families

Jesus once compared prominent religious leaders in his day to "whitewashed tombs." They looked good on the outside, but they housed the decaying remains of dead people. Even today, church leaders invest an enormous amount of time and energy in making the gospel appealing to the world. Many books have been written; high priced seminars have been offered to church leaders. Those who have been successful in the business of making churches grow tell their stories and large audiences flock to hear them.

We play the "if only" game. If only we had more talented workers; if we had a larger budget so we could afford to use the latest technology; if we could only find the right dynamic person to fill the pulpit; if we could only develop a worship style that appeals to a contemporary audience. You can play the "if only" game a lot of different ways.

As it turns out, the most effective church growth strategy is so low-tech that it was equally workable in the first century as it is now. That's right! In a world without computers, television, and audiovisual technology, the church flourished and can do so again today with the same strategy. Believe it or not, much of the strategy involves the way we interact with our families.

In Titus 2:1-10, Paul wrote to Timothy about ways "to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. He organized his thoughts around various social groups in the church and amazingly enough four out of the five groups he mentioned were family related.

That shouldn't surprise us. Christianity can only go forward when God's people learn how to live responsibly with each other. After all, Jesus said, "By this all men will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Does that really work in a postmodern society? Does it work among people who have a somewhat cynical and jaded view of life? Will it work in the culture where people are self absorbed and indifferent to spiritual values?

In his letter to Titus, Paul emphasized the importance of living our lives with integrity. In Titus 1, he described the social environment of Crete. It included deception, pursuit of dishonest gain, lying and laziness. In the middle of all the corruption households were being ruined. Christians were being asked to rise to the challenge of living on a higher plane and that kind of living started at home.

If the Christian faith is ever to be attractive to an unbelieving world, our faith has to make a difference in the way we handle life. Some of the industrial giants of the machine age were notorious for their ruthless business tactics. Quite often they were church going men. They gave their dollars to construct impressive houses of worship. If you asked them about their business practices, they would simply reply, "Business is business and religion is religion." They thought of them as mutually exclusive areas of life. In Titus, Paul makes it clear that faith must touch every area of our lives if we are to have credibility in the world. There is no area of life where the profession of faith and the performance of faith is placed under more intense scrutiny than in the family.

There are four subgroupings that were singled out for special instructions in Titus 2.

1. Older men
   
2. Younger men
   
3. Older women
   
4. Younger women
   
5. Slaves

It's best not to read these instructions as being exclusively applicable to these specific groups. Clearly there were some things that pertained specifically to someone like the older women or the younger men, but most of these principles need to be observed by everyone. For the purpose of this study, we're going to take a look at all the principles involved.

NEXT WEEK: Does the Way You Talk Encourage or Discourage Faith?