Self-Controlled is Healthy
August 30, 2018 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
Health. How do you measure health? Depends on what we’re talking about, right?
Physical health? Blood pressure. Pulse rate. Body mass index. Blood tests for cholesterol and sugar levels. Physical activity. And more. All of these are used to “measure” one’s health regarding his body.
Mental health? Sleep habits. Social habits. Eating habits. Emotional swings. And more. All these are taken into consideration for determining one’s mental health.
Relational health? Quality time. Depth of communication. Honesty. Forgiveness. And more. These prove to be marks of health in relationships.
How about the church? What does health look like in the church? Good cases can be made for many different angles for measuring church health. It’s mission. It’s worship. It’s preaching. It’s ministry. It’s growth. It’s morals. And more.
The apostle Paul uses the word “health” or “healthy” only in his letters to the young pastors Timothy and Titus. The ESV typically translates the word “sound,” which merely is a synonym for healthy. Nearly every time Paul uses the word he applies it to the church’s teaching or doctrine (1 Tim. 1:10, 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13, 4:3; Titus 1:9, & 2:1). We quickly get the impression that the health of the church is dependent on the health of her teaching or doctrine.
Paul never stops at healthy doctrine, though. Listen to what he says to Titus, “Teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Healthy doctrine is the backbone for the church, but more is involved in the health of the church. In Titus 2 Paul gives example after example for all ages and genders of “what accords with sound doctrine.” One quality stands out from the others as it is repeated four times in this chapter: self-control. Literally, to be self-controlled is to be of a sound (healthy) mind for prudent or moderate living. In other words, to be self-controlled is to make wise choices.
We can make the case that self-control can be used to measure the health of the church (the people of the church). Consider what Paul says about self-control:
- Self-Control “accords” with sound doctrine (v. 1-2). Paul writes his letter to Titus to bolster his ministry at Crete to bring order and health to the church. For Paul there can be no dichotomy between teaching and living, doctrine and ethics. They are intertwined. Titus had to confront the false teachers and their unethical practices (1:10-16). A healthy church maintains sound teaching and lives that “accord” with such teaching. Church health is not complete in teaching alone. Self-control is the one quality repeated for older men, older women, younger women, and younger men. Sound teaching renews the mind and shapes wise choices.
- Self-control is modeled and taught by others. Older are to be self-controlled (v. 2). Older women are to train younger women to be self-controlled (v. 4-5). Younger men are to be urged to be self-controlled (v. 6). For Paul, if sound doctrine is shaping a church, the teaching and modeling of self-control ought to be prevalent in the life of the church. That’s a mark of health.
- Self-control is a fruit of God’s grace. Notice what Paul says about God’s grace in verses 11-12. It “has appeared…training us…to live self-controlled…” As in all of Paul’s ethical teaching, it is so important to remember that we do not create morals on our own. God, by his grace, transforms us and conforms us to his standards of holiness. Therefore, sound teaching and sound living cannot be separated.
