A Patterned Life

“Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works…”

– Titus 2:6-7

We have seen many roles in the organization of the New Testament Church. A pattern has been given to each group mentioned, from the leadership to the lives of the young men. The design was sound teaching of the Scriptures that produced a godly lifestyle. Titus was encouraged to follow a pattern of what he has seen and heard and is instructing them to do. He could not have “high talk and low walk.” Titus would have to lead by example.

The area Titus was sent to had a poor reputation. They were worldly, yet many were being saved. They needed to be taught God’s Word and shown how to live it out practically. The word pattern in its original form means a “stamp” or to leave a “mark with a blow.” It is a copy or image and carries with it the idea of repeatedly striking to give a reliable precedent for others to follow. It is a godly lifestyle that is constant and consistent.

Throughout the Pastoral Epistles, the concern for proper instruction was stressed (1 Tim. 1:3-4; 1 Tim. 4:6; 1 Tim. 4:16; 2 Tim. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:14-15). It is as important then as it is now because “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3). Titus was explicitly instructed to be the example for the next generation. Our lives demonstrate outwardly the faith that we possess inwardly. As a born-again Christian, we must often ask ourselves what patterns our lives reflect. Can we, with Paul, say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ?”

“The characters of God’s most eminent saints, as drawn and described in the Bible, form a most useful part of Holy Scripture. Abstract doctrines, and principles, and precepts, are all most valuable in their way; but after all, nothing is more helpful than a pattern or example.”

– J. C. Ryle