Patterns and Boundaries

This message was edited for length and clarity, taken from the 2026 Oklahoma Fellowship Meeting as brought forth by Bro. Jack Roberts

Bro. Jack Roberts preached from Titus 2, where Paul instructed Titus to teach every age group how to live, aged men, aged women, young women, young men, and even Titus himself as a young pastor.  The charge was simple, but searching, “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works.”

That word “pattern” carries the idea of an example, like a set of plans.  If the builder follows the pattern, the finished work will match the design.  In the same way, our lives should provide a godly pattern others can safely follow.  The serious question is this, if someone followed my example, would it lead them closer to Christ?

Peter wrote that Christ left “us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”  That example was not only seen in mighty works, but in patience, meekness, and restraint.  When Christ suffered, He did not threaten.  When He was reviled, He did not revile again.  That challenges us in the ordinary moments, at home, with our spouse, with our children, at work, in traffic, and even when someone wounds us with their words.

Bro. Roberts then warned about another kind of pattern, the slow drift.  A person may not immediately fall into open sin, but their private devotion grows thin.  Prayer becomes shorter.  Bible reading becomes rushed.  Meditation fades.  The secret place with God is neglected.  Then, when pressure comes, the weakness shows.  A sharp word is spoken.  A wrong attitude rises.  The phone becomes a snare.  Imaginations are allowed to run too long.

That drift can become a cycle.  God faithfully puts His finger on the issue.  We feel the chastening of a loving Father, pray through, become careful again, and then, little by little, the drift begins again.  The question is not only, “What did I do wrong?”  It is, “Where did the drift begin?”

To illustrate this, Bro. Roberts turned to Samson.  Samson’s strength was not in himself.  It was tied to his consecration to God as a Nazarite.  His vow required separation, no wine or strong drink, no razor upon his head, and no contact with the dead.  Yet long before Delilah cut his hair, Samson had already begun playing loosely with the boundaries of his consecration.

He went near the vineyards.  He returned to the carcass of the lion.  He took honey from an unclean dead body.  Each step may have seemed small, but the pattern was forming.  Samson’s final fall did not begin in Delilah’s lap.  It began when he stopped treating his consecration as precious.

That is the warning for us.  We cannot play loosely with our consecration and expect to remain strong.  Our strength is not in our personality, our years in the church, our discipline, our talent, or our knowledge.  Our strength is in God.  “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

The answer is not fanaticism, but spiritual boundaries.  Paul said, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.”  Some things may not be sin in themselves, but they feed the drift.  Mindless scrolling, idle thoughts, careless conversations, resentment, self reliance, and unchecked imaginations can become fertilizer for spiritual weakness.

Solomon wrote, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines.”  It is often the little foxes that do the damage.  A little less prayer.  A little less carefulness.  A little more confidence in self.  A little more distance from the altar.  A little more freedom with our words.  Over time, a pattern is formed.

So what should we do?  Stop the drift early.  Use the phone as a tool, not an entertainment machine.  Put a pause button on sharp words before they leave your mouth.  Be consistent with your children.  Guard your thoughts toward the saints.  Stay close to your pastor and pastor’s wife.  Get under a burden for your own soul.  Pray, fast, read, meditate, sing, work, and keep your heart tender before God.

Revelation 2 gives the final warning and the remedy.  The church at Ephesus had works, labor, patience, and discernment, but Christ said, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”  The remedy was clear, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works.”

That is the call.  Remember.  Repent.  Do the first works.  Return to the sweetness of communion with God.  Renew the carefulness of consecration.  Set holy boundaries before the drift becomes a pattern.

May God help us to be patterns of good works, examples worth following, and saints who never forget where our great strength lies.