I will read the first 10 verses. Before I read, let me make it clear as to the text itself, and it will be verse 2, verse 7, and verse 8. By the way, those of you handling the technology, please add verse 8 there. So those are the two that we are looking at. And my chief burden is what is the title of the sermon. Be a model of good works. Be a model of good works. Paul is writing to Titus, and this is what he says. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. All the women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to match wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. The next verse is the context. Likewise, urge younger men to be self-controlled. And then comes the words to Titus himself. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. And in your teaching, show integrity dignity and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. And then the last category, the born servants or the slaves. Born servants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior." Well, what's happened here is a great source of joy to the elders I know and especially to the elders that oversee the work that we have with respect to the eastern part of Zambia. For most of you, this might not be information you have, but we've divided out the various mission stations as elders, and we therefore collaborate with what's happening on the ground that way. And Elder John Kumwenda and Elder Charles Botha are basically the ones that work with the missionaries or the churches in Eastern Province. For a while, we had quite a bit of a disaster on our hands because although the churches were being planted, we began to have situations of a disciplinary nature, one after the other, and at least one of them simply based on difficulties in his personal life family life stepping down completely. And so although the churches were there, we were there for beginning to suffer as far as leadership is concerned. I want to repeat, most of the difficulty was of a disciplinary nature. In the end, with sat down and said, what do we do? And we asked our brother Emmanuel Sakala, the principal of the Covenant College in Petawuke, to take on the responsibility of visiting the churches. And in visiting them, if he's not preaching, at least he can sit down with the leaderships after the service, know what they are going through, give them counsel and help and so on, and in the process begin to relate to the men sufficiently. to be able to say, I think there is light here, I think there's potential here, I think there's a good man here, and so on. So that's what began to happen. And by and by, it was like removing a blister that is on a wound. And so there's a lot of digging that is being done because you are beginning to realize that even some so-called good men at such a distance are being discovered not to be good men at all, who are still in the leadership of those churches. So a lot of that work began to happen. But by and by, there were individuals being identified, and some of them were playing roles as sort of caretaker pastors, sort of helping out for a season, while they also have their own congregations, which are daughter churches of the churches we are planting, such as Geoffrey Zulu. Is Geoffrey here? Where is he? Is someone at the back? Stand so that people can greet you. Okay. No, no, just standing so that we can identify you. Thank you very much. Be seated. So he was overseeing the work in Yimba, for instance, while at the same time, he's got an actual congregation that he is working with. So that's what was happening for a while. And in the meantime, we're constantly praying, Lord, give us men, bona fide men that can then spend their time there to provide missionary service on a full-time basis in each of them. And the Lord answered prayer in a way that we don't expect because it was almost at the same time that these names began to come up one after the other. As you know Clement was an intern here and is a member at Amersdale Baptist Church where Pastor Isaac Makashini, who has come with his wife here, is pastoring and so forth. So he was a member there, did his internship here, and his heart was in Eastern Province. These men, as we've already heard from the testimonies, have also come up in different ways. There was no sort of effort to bring them out like products of a Chinese factory, you know. Come on, come on, all of you. It was nothing like that. The Lord moved. And so as we pause today, we are, within the eldership, very grateful for what He has done. in giving us men who can go and labor with their wives to ensure that these churches make progress. Because if we can have strong churches between Lusaka and Chipata in each of those towns, then we can say Eastern Province the pillars of darkness are being brought down. And so, to see Nyimba having someone now there, Petawuke, thankfully we already have someone who took over a few years ago and we've continued supporting him. And then we have Sinda and Katete, and then Chitawe, we see a future for that work. However, what happened before can happen again. And that's the reason why I thought it important that we come back to the basics in terms of not simply what went wrong, but that we should not allow such things to keep happening because they go right against the grain of what it means to be in ministry. Ministry is not merely about preparing sermons and delivering them. Ministry is about the whole of one's life, the whole life speaking. And therefore, individuals realizing that if they continue the way they are living in the light of what they are hearing and seeing in this man and his family, God will definitely send them to hell. And that's what we have here in our text. Titus was left in Crete by the Apostle Paul and the statement that he puts at the very beginning of the text in chapter 1 and verse 5 was for him to put what remains into order. In other words, we've begun the work. It is yet to reach the culmination, the terminus point, by which it is now fully autonomous You are being left there to finish off the work. That's precisely what we are saying of Clement and Lewis and Isaac and Bernard. That's what we're saying to them. That the work began. The work almost got aborted. You must now go and finish the work. And in finishing the work, there is a lot of work to do with developing leaders, but there's another current under the developing of the leaders that I talked about in chapter one, and it is the ongoing discipleship. Because as you evangelize sinners and they come into the church, they come with a lot of baggage, baggage of the world. And it takes months and years to get them to offload that baggage so that there can be a more spiritual life coming through. And even while you are doing that, others are getting saved and also coming in. And so the work of discipleship really continues. And so the Apostle Paul comes to chapter 2 and basically says, this is what you are to teach the older men, this is what you are to teach the older women, then the older women will also spend time teaching the younger women, and then you are to teach the younger men. And it is while he's speaking about teaching the younger men that he comes to the way in which Titus should be teaching, the way in which he ought to be teaching. And that's really where I want us to spend a bit of time here. And basically, he is saying that He must be a role model to the people. And if one was to ask which people, I would say in the inner circle, it is the younger men. In the outer circle, it is all those who are in the church. So let's really look at the text. The Sikhs, likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Now, with respect to the older men, there are a lot of things that have been said. With respect to the older women, there are a lot of things that have been said, a lot of areas for change. With respect to the younger women also, and largely those who are newly married in homes, again, the same thing. There's a lot that they are being told to do. For the younger men, it is this. Be self-controlled. That's the main thing. Be self-controlled. Now, it's as though the Apostle Paul recognized that young men can be stubborn. Can be stubborn. that if your life does not exhibit what you are talking about as you are saying, be self-controlled, they will not listen to you. They won't. And hence, he brings in the need for Titus to be a role model. Now, whereas our Bibles clearly indicate a difference between verse 6 and verse 7. In the original, it's a little difficult to see that breakage between the two, primarily because that phrase, in all respects, which we see in verse 7, show yourself, in all respects, that little phrase, in all respects, is actually at the beginning of the verse, in all respects. and it can easily be about self-control. In other words, it can read like this. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled in all respects. to be self-controlled in everything, not just in the sexual realm, but also in their appetite for food, also in their desire for whatever it is that they are up to, also in their pursuits in life, that whatever it is, they might be self-controlled. And it's from there that he goes on to say, and show yourself Verse 7, show yourself to be a model of good works. So you've said to them they should be self-controlled, let them see it in you. Now, I agree with ESV by putting in all things in the second category. So if you're reading your comment and you find it is with what is saying in verse six, at least you know that I gave you the green light. I'm more with the ESV and a number of other visions that end up saying, show yourself in all respects, in everything, to be a good role model. To be a good model. Now, in one sense, humility is a major mark of Christianity. And if you are a real Christian, you don't want to put yourself on the pedestal. You don't want to be a center of attention. And that's quite correct. We all would love to somehow continue life in the background. But here's the point. like any other human institution, needs role models. It does. It doesn't matter where in life you are. It's not enough to simply say, this is what it means to be a good politician. That you need to be honest, you need to be selfless, you need to be humble, you need to be what... Finally, people will be thinking, like who? Yeah, they'll be thinking like that, like who? Inevitably, until you say, for instance, the way in which, you know, now that he's dead we can use the mic, Kenneth Kaunda, the way in which Kaunda was, and so on. So, you then begin to pull out biographies of Kaunda and say, read, read, read. Every area of life is like that. If you're an individual who's pursuing any career, it doesn't matter what that career is, I can come into your home and most likely I will find a biography of somebody who was in that career. And you've read it. It's because that person made a mark, a powerful mark, and you are being shown that this is what it means to be a good person, a successful person in that realm. The church is no exception. We have the example of the Lord Jesus, yes, but the Bible doesn't end there. The Bible goes one step further and says the role models are to be those individuals who teach in the church. They must be good role models. In the book of Hebrews and chapter 13, it is not referring to Jesus. It's referring to those who were preachers and were now dead. Those are the ones being referred to. But the very reason why they are good role models is because individuals were able to remember their lives when they were alive. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7. Remember your leaders. Those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. They are your leaders. So they can be gone already, but while they were alive, you were seeing their lives. And therefore you ought to imitate them. is true in an ongoing way as well that before they die you are looking up to them and especially younger men in the church they want to see real life And again, it is true. Because as they are growing up, they are looking up to examples. And so it must be. that younger men in the church should be looking at especially those of you who will be regularly in the pulpit to see what it means to be a Christian man, a Christian husband, a Christian parent, a Christian pastor, a Christian citizen in society. We are looking at the example and that's what you ought to be. And that's what, on one hand, takes away their tendency to be stubborn and to hide in their ongoing ways because now they are seeing a real life example. But not just taking that away, but it does give them what to emulate, what to aim for. that when I grow up, I want to be like that when I grow up. But let me go on to say that part of the reason why, therefore, it's important to be a good role model is that a lot in Christianity is caught rather than taught. A lot of it is caught rather than taught. In other words, it is seen, and then people unconsciously begin to do the same thing. And so if your life is not a role model, or it is a role model for wrong things, really that's what you will reproduce. Because even when you are busy preaching sound doctrine, their brains are saying, preacher, your life is so loud, we can't hear what you're saying. That's really what they'll be saying. And so in the process, you lose them completely, despite the fact that your theology is correct. But also, bear in mind, At the most, you will preach and teach maybe three hours a week, maybe four. You have your service on Sunday, maybe you might throw in an evening service as well, I don't know, but definitely you might also have a midweek Bible study, so two, three, four hours a week. But you will be living out your life at least another 50 hours a week in front of everybody else. If it's in front of your family, you can multiply that by two. You will have a lot of hours in front of your people. So your life is going to be your number one salmon, your life. Even when you are not preaching or teaching, your life is preaching and teaching. And hence you can see why the Apostle Paul is saying to Titus here that show yourself, okay, I'm throwing in the all respects like ESV, throw yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. Yes, you are humble and you wish it was somebody else. But in your humility, you've accepted the role of being a teacher, a preacher of the Word of God. Therefore, your life must be part of the preaching and teaching. And you need to say, I must be the best that I can be spiritually and morally for the sake of all these people who are looking at me, even when I've just gone into the market to go and buy tomatoes or bananas or mangoes. The way I am carrying myself there is already preaching a wholesome one. A wholesome one. And that causes the young to say, wow, we've got a lot of homework to get to that level. We've got a lot of homework. Let's pull up our socks. Surely our pastor, in terms of sanctification, is a few kilometers ahead of us. Let's do more. Let's work on our sanctification, our self-control. Let's do it. That's number one, but very quickly. Number two, in your teaching, show integrity. I won't take as much time there, because with respect to teaching, that's what we normally tend to emphasize. And the disasters that we had in the same province had nothing to do with lack of teaching. But let's quickly look at it. It's in the text. First of all, when he says, in your teaching, show integrity. That word integrity there is really simply two phrases, and it is lacking corruption. That's all it is. It's one word, but it's beginning with an alpha or a, which simply is saying the opposite. So not corrupt in your teaching. Number two, dignity. In other words, there must be seriousness. You must not be the local jokester. You must not be the kind of person who, the moment you enter into the pulpit, everybody's laughing. You haven't even opened your mouth yet. Everybody's laughing. Because you are just the kind of guy who's always full of jokes. No. In your teaching, there must be dignity. there must be seriousness. Why? It's obvious. It is that you are dealing with matters of eternal life and eternal death. Eternal life and eternal death. The eternity of people in Nyingiba, Sinda, Chitawe, Katete, hangs on the words that you speak. You cannot afford to be a Mujoza. I don't know what phrase they use in the same province for somebody who is always a comedian. You should not be that. There must be dignity. And then number three uses the word sound speech. In your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech. Sound speech there is again a combination of two phrases, and the first part is where we get the word hygiene from, and then the second is simply logos. So, hygienic words. That's all it is saying there. Hygienic doctrine. In other words, you are so accurate in your teaching that you are actually helping people to know the mind of God. That as you are teaching, you are not using what we call equivocals. Equivocals are words that neither here nor there, somehow, somewhere in the middle. No, there is such clarity. in your teaching that everybody can tell where they ought to go if their lives are to be safe. Sound words, hygienic doctrine, which is what even said in verse 1, but as for you teach what are caused with sound doctrine. That's what he's talking about here. And therefore, as you are speaking in this way, anybody cannot condemn you. And what does that have to do with these words that cannot be condemned? It is the fact that they can tell that you are a serious pastor. They can tell. that you don't sort of come to do your work and after you've preached for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, they can tell that this guy didn't prepare. That's the reason why it's just fall off to my stories, village stories. You know, yesterday I went to catch fish and the fish that I caught is, you know, the size of this room and so on. I know you don't believe it, but that's your own problem. And just telling stories. No. They can tell from the accuracy, from the seriousness, from the wholeness of what you're teaching. They can tell that there's been careful and judicious preparation and that you are a real teacher of the Word of God. And that's how they cannot condemn your teaching because they can see your faithfulness here. Oh friends, that was the way in which Titus was to prevail on young minds. Young minds. And it's important. One of the reasons why our churches fail to sustain intelligent young people is because they can see from your preaching that you're just playing. They can see. And as a result, they're saying, well, I'm wasting my time here. And off they go. If they can see in you genuine, serious preparation that is coming through the words that you are speaking. If they can see that in you, we are going to have young people staying in our churches because they are being challenged intellectually as well. They can see the reasoning that is being developed. They can see the one plus one is equal to two. They can see that this cannon has been really pressed hard with gunpowder and finally it's blasted out against my sin. You overwhelm them. They get convinced that there's only one way to live. They must abandon sin and go after holiness. Last year, during our church missionaries prayer retreat, I preached to the pastors, they were not there, maybe Clement would have been, I can't remember now. It was on, well it wasn't last year, so it was the year before. Confusing things, the year before. I preached about, and I said, in 100 years, people will look back to our day What is it that they should say characterized our movement? What is it? I said, number one, they should be able to say that there was sound doctrine, that the reformed faith was taught consistently. Number two, they should say there was exposition that the word of God was being expounded faithfully in those pulpits. And in that sense, they were powerful pulpits. Number three, that they should say there was holiness, that the pastors that were there had high integrity. that they were marked for it. That that generation is gone, but we witnessed for ourselves that they had lives of transparent spirituality and godliness. Brethren, may that be true of us. Finally, my interest in adding verse 8 is this. So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. An opponent. There's a sad truth that we still have to live with, and it is this. Churches have enemies. KBC is no exception. I can assure you, not everybody is rejoicing that KBC has found four replacements for missionaries that fell by the wayside in the same province. Not everybody is rejoicing. For some, it's a terrible day. It's a terrible day. Churches have enemies. And it's not now that this has begun. It's in the text. The Apostle Paul is saying, so that an opponent may be put to shame. In other words, even in his own day, Paul had opponents. And he's speaking as a matter of fact, that you, Titus, you have opponents. That's just the reality. We have nothing but good news. We've got nothing but love in our hearts. That's why we do what we do. But sadly, the evil one still puts different twists to what we are doing, and consequently, we are seen as vile men. who if we can't shoot them down physically, we can pull them down. That's the reality. And the enemies know that false teachers are immoral. They know that you can't have a real servant of God if his life is sinful, wicked and evil. They know. And therefore, they look for wickedness and evil in our lives. They look for it. They wait for it. They hope they will hear about it. And therefore, if your life is failing to be that solid ground of morality, if your speech is failing to be sound speech, they quickly get a hold of it and start dangling it up in the air. That's what they do. Start dangling it up in the air. And guess who suffers? First of all, yourself. But not only that, the church that sends you suffers as well. The people that send you. Look at the text. The Apostle Paul there says, I'm going to say what he's not saying, but let me read it. So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about you. Uh-uh. That's not what it is saying. It is saying, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Poorly inclusive. The guy has left Crete. He's gone. He's left Titus there. And yet, the moment Titus messes up, Paul's name is also dragged in. It's also dragged in. And there's nothing that Paul can do. He can't somehow wash himself away from this. He can't. He suffers. Embarrassment, shame, a bad name. because of other people. And the main thing that the opponents want to do is to say, you see, they are not doing God's work. Because if they were doing God's work, there would not be this scandal. So this cannot be God's work. That's really all they want to do in the end. So all of us get bad publicity. Let me put it this way. For Kabwatha Baptist Church to still be voting as high as it voted for you men, we must not take it for granted. We mustn't. We mustn't. Because by now they should be saying, no, no, no. Let's forget about missions. Let's forget about missions. We've suffered too much because people have said this and that and that and that about us. And yet here we are in Lusaka. We're doing the best that we can do. The scandals are out in Eastern province. Why should our names also be dragged in the mud? Forget it. That's what they ought to be saying. But they were willing to say, let's give it another shot. Let's put our reputation again on the line. They're willing. Let me put it this way. It will be a sad day. A very sad day. If these elders are going to have to come to this church and say to them, there was another Judas among the men that we put aside for the work in Eastern province. Yes, they looked innocent, but there was another Judas there. I want to say what a shameful day it will be. that you were sitting here listening to messages, messages such as this, and you're still saying, I'm going to continue in the ways of sin. Until God himself brings about judgment. How can you in the light of the history with hearted heart still come and present yourself in front of a congregation that is still breathed, still being called names out there. And out of rank selfishness, still say, I'm going to stab you in the back also. I'm going to do the same thing. All that to say, we will not be with you innocent prophets, we won't. Like Paul is no longer in Crete, Titus is there. We will not be with you. But the moment the devil says to you, They will not know. Remember, as I said this morning, that is number one lie. Say to yourself, they trusted me. They trusted me. I must prove myself to be trustworthy, worthy of trust. If I'm going to go that way, let me begin with resigning first. Let me resign. Then I can go in the ways of sin and evil, whatever it is. But while I remain a missionary of that church, I must do what Paul told Titus to do. In my life, I must be a role model. In my teaching, I must show integrity. May that be true of you, brethren. Amen.