The Table of Duties: Young and Old and All in Common

Sermon for Midweek of Judica – Lent 5

Small Catechism Review: The Table of Duties

We’ve made it to the final midweek service before Holy Week. And we’ve also made it to the end of the end of the Small Catechism, to the end of the Table of Duties. Our final three Bible passages are addressed to young and old, and to all Christians at once.

First Luther cites a passage for the young, from 1 Peter 5:

You younger people, submit yourselves to your elders, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet. 5[:5-6]).

Now, “younger people” certainly includes children. But it refers more specifically to people in their teens and early twenties. We have some of those people here. And what are the two duties Peter emphasizes for the young Christians? Submission to those who are older, and humility. The young tend to find both of those things particularly challenging, don’t they? The young often think they know better than their elders. They probably do know more about some things. But there is no substitute for life experience and maturity and the wisdom that comes with it. Regardless, Christian young people are instructed by God to show deference to those who are older. Submitting includes agreeing to listen, agreeing to learn. And humility includes setting aside your notions that you know more, that you know better. It includes showing reverence and respect at all times, and setting aside your pride. Remember that God resists the proud. He hates pride, when people think highly of themselves and think lowly of other people. But He gives grace to the humble. Think about that around your friends, and around those who aren’t your friends. Think about that around your elders. And remember God’s promise to lift you up if you humble yourself.

We can add Paul’s words to St. Titus about the young: Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded. Sober-minded. That’s a big concept. It includes self-control or “temperance,” that means, never going too far, not letting yourself get carried away, either with excitement or adventure, or with sadness or with focusing on how bad things are. Sober-minded. It includes focusing on the things that are most important in this life. Stopping to think before you speak or before you act. Making wise, well-reasoned, God-centered choices. Those things don’t come naturally to any of us, but especially when we’re young. But here God sets forth these duties to Christian young people. And the same God will give you the strength to carry them out, if you take your duties seriously and apply yourselves to them. The devil, the world, and your flesh will tug at you and pull at you to just forget about God and the duties He’s given you, and enjoy being young while you’re young. You mustn’t let them succeed.

Now, for the duties of the “older people.” How do we define that? Well, I suppose it’s when you’re no longer a “youth.” No matter how young you may feel, you reach a state of maturity and full-blown adulthood at some point, and from then until you reach what we call “old age,” you qualify as an older person. Here’s what St. Paul writes to Titus about the duties of older people: Exhort the older men to be sober, dignified, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be properly holy in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

It is the duty of older Christian men to be sober, as in, literally not drunk (or “high” on drugs, either). Dignified (which the NKJV translates “reverent,” which is not a great translation). Dignified, that is, honorable, well-behaved, worthy of respect. Temperate, which is the same word used for the youth “sober-minded,” level-headed, not being carried away to extremes. They are to be sound in faith, that is, healthy in their faith. And as you know, the only way to be healthy is to eat right and exercise, right? So it is with your faith, too. It requires the regular eating of the pure Word of God and of His Sacrament, and the regular exercise of relying on God in times of trouble. Sound in love. That requires regularly eating (that is, dwelling on) the love of Christ and regularly exercising that same love toward others. Sound in patience. That requires regularly eating (that is, dwelling on) the patience Christ Himself showed when He suffered, and the patience of so many saints who have gone before us, and regularly exercising that patience in times of trouble, by bearing the cross and putting up with afflictions, because you know your God will not abandon you.

It is the duty of older Christian women to be properly holy in their behavior, behaving as holy daughters of God. Not slanderers, that is not women who talk badly about others or gossip about them. Not given to much wine. Wine is fine, but it’s a Christian woman’s duty to know when to say when. Teachers of good things. Sure, that can be for teachers in a classroom. But it’s much more than that. Older Christian women ought to teach younger Christian women, but they must do it with kindness and gentleness and humility. Teaching them, as Paul says, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. You may have heard of “church ladies” over the years who haven’t acted this way, and have given a bad name to the Church. But you older women know it’s your duty not to be like that.

Those words from Paul to Titus aren’t the words of our Table of Duties, though. Luther simply includes this passage about widows from 1 Tim. 5: Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives (1 Tim. 5[:5-6]). When a Christian woman loses her husband, she hasn’t lost all purpose in life. It’s now her duty to trust in God, and to devote herself to prayer and to the kingdom of God. And it’s the duty of other Christians to see that such a woman is cared for, or that elderly Christians in general are cared for, if they truly need care.

Finally, Luther includes two verses that speak to all Christians. From Romans 13: All the commandments are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom. 13[:9]). And from 1 Tim. 2: Persevere in prayer for all men (1 Tim. 2[:1]).

Love. It’s the duty of all Christians to love. But to love according to the Christian definition of love, love as it’s described in the Ten Commandments. Love that is consistent with God’s Word. Love that is genuine, sincere, from the heart, seeking the best of our neighbor, and especially of our fellow Christians. Love as it’s modeled for us by the Lord Jesus. And prayer. That’s also modeled for us by Him, prayer as a form of love, because we’re praying to God the Father on behalf of others. These are the constant duties of all Christians.

With that, we conclude our study of the Table of Duties, and, of course, more could be said about all our duties as Christians. But I leave it to you now to think about your duties every day and to carry them out diligently, as those who have been purchased with the blood of Christ, washed clean of all your sins, and brought into the kingdom of Christ, not to lounge around, but to serve Him in His kingdom in the ways He Himself has outlined for you in His Word. Where you have failed to do your duties, where I have failed to do mine, let us repent and look to Christ, who fulfilled His duties perfectly and gladly, including His duty to His Father to suffer and die for our sins. As we conclude this Lenten season and move into Holy Week, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as He fulfills all His blessed duties for us, so that we have all the motivation we need to fulfill our duties to Him. Amen.