Titus 3

[00:00:00] You are listening through the Bible Studio Series with Pastor Nate Holdridge. Join us as we continue our study with a new testament book of Titus. Here's Nate.

[00:00:30] I am glad and ripping off the people. Quoted from the Old Testament and said, is it not written? My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

[00:00:42] In the mind of Christ, ancient Israel and specifically the city of Jerusalem was to shine so that they might be a blessing to the nations, a house of prayer for all nations, offering prayer for all peoples.

[00:01:01] And of course they had devolved into an ineffectiveness in that role and Christ came to through the gospel provide a new way for the light of the world to enter into the world.

[00:01:16] And so now the church serves as a vehicle for the light of the world. Christ is the light but we also are the light in that we are reflecting and extending who Jesus is. We are preaching Christ and living out the life of Christ more and more as the years go by or at least that is the mission, that is the goal.

[00:01:39] So that is the church. We are to shine brightly as lights within the world. And in the book of Titus, as Titus is on the island of Crete organizing the church, Paul continually exhorts Titus to prepare the church on that island for a life of good works that they would not be isolated from the world and that they would neither be assimilated or exalted.

[00:02:09] So that they would live into the world but that they would live distinct lives.

[00:02:15] God's grace seems to teach us how to embrace the delicate task of living godly lives in the present age. And especially here in chapter 3 we learn about this, how to live a life of zealousness for good works within the world that we are living.

[00:02:36] In Colossians chapter 4 verse 5 that we must walk in wisdom toward outsiders. And this chapter helps us to that end.

[00:02:47] Now questions that we are going to consider in this chapter are fourfold. Number one, how should I treat the world that I am living in?

[00:02:55] Number two, is there any help for me in doing this? Number three, what is my motivation for treating the world this way? And then finally, is there any additional help to enable me to live this way?

[00:03:13] So question number one, we look at verse 1 and 2. How should I treat the world? Well Paul tells Titus to verse 1, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities to be obedient.

[00:03:30] So Paul immediately enters in and says, look this is what you need to do Titus. You don't need to communicate anything original. And many preachers have battled with that unhealthy lust for originality as John stock put it.

[00:03:47] But once we get past that, we realize that so much of the Christian life in teaching is merely reminder to remind people and Paul tells Titus to remind people to be submissive to rulers and authorities to be obedient.

[00:04:01] Now this sounds so much like the life of Jesus. He lived a submissive life. He lowered himself under the will of the Father.

[00:04:11] And the submissive life, especially to rulers and authorities, does not sound like the modern mentality. So the Christian is someone who has allowed the life of Christ to impact them so deeply that they behave toward government in the way that Christ would behave toward government.

[00:04:32] This is in fact the life of Jesus being lived within and through them. And specifically, the way Paul describes it is that we would live submissively towards rulers and authorities to be obedient.

[00:04:48] Now this was spoken first from Paul to Titus through Titus two Creetans who apparently had a bent toward rebelliousness. Remember in chapter 1, Paul alluded to the rebellious nature of the common person on the island of Creet.

[00:05:09] These Creetans were under the rule of Rome. Paul had told Timothy to tell the church to pray for kings in those in high positions, but here the command is not prayer but submission.

[00:05:24] Probably because the natural bent of the Creetans was not submission to the governing authorities. So one way that I am to treat the world is I should be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities.

[00:05:39] Now the reality of course is that this concept likely greats on many of us. A many of us have a desire for liberty that runs deeply, a desire for freedom that runs deeply and it might even run deeply because it's God given that we should be free people.

[00:05:58] And for some of us, the reality of a new kingdom that we receive in Christ Jesus might tempt us to feel that we don't have any earthly citizenship.

[00:06:12] So there are always various spectrums of this within Christianity. The church in Philippi seemed to be a church that needed to identify less with their national ties.

[00:06:27] In that culture celebrated the fact that they were a Roman colony. And so the church in Philippi likely needed to connect less with their citizenship on earth and more with their citizenship in heaven.

[00:06:42] The citizens or the believers on the island of Creet, on the other hand apparently, needed to connect a little bit more with their earthly citizenship.

[00:06:52] So Paul tells them that they must and tells us that we must be submissive to rulers and authorities to be obedient.

[00:07:01] Now of course there are modifiers of this excertation in the Bible. We cannot give the state unconditional allegiance or else we would be guilty of the worship of the state.

[00:07:14] In early Christians recognized this. They recognized the idolatry involved in calling Caesar Lord. Our first loyalty is to God.

[00:07:24] And as the apostles said there in Acts 5, when they were first commanded by the governing authorities, they said we must obey God rather than men.

[00:07:33] So if it comes down to obedience to God versus obedience to the governing authorities we must as believers be obedient to God.

[00:07:42] But we must also recognize the God given nature of the state.

[00:07:49] Romans 13, 1 and 2 is where Paul declares us to us that no authority has come except from God and that those that exist have been instituted by God specifically referring to governing authorities.

[00:08:04] So the gospel ought to make us into better citizens. There's no longer a need to demonize sides. We realize two great things about mankind.

[00:08:15] It's lost, broken, sinful and wrong so we are unsurprised by evil. And as we look out at the world as citizens we should be unsurprised by evil.

[00:08:26] The Bible has taught us about the depravity of man. But also on the other hand as we look out at the world we should not be surprised when man does good because mankind humanity have been made in the image of God.

[00:08:40] And I find that oftentimes as well Christians sometimes are on one end of the spectrum or the other. Everybody is evil or everybody is good but the reality is we have the capability of both.

[00:08:55] And so perhaps this command of simple submission to the governing authorities can be a little bit of relief to you that you don't have to be a political expert on every issue in the world.

[00:09:08] You simply at times are called just to be obedient, a good citizen.

[00:09:13] Then he goes on in verse 1 to say to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

[00:09:24] So again we are answering the question here in verse 1 and 2 of how should I treat the world?

[00:09:29] Here he uses a cluster of phrases to say that we should treat the world, treat people with decency and kindness.

[00:09:39] I should be ready for every good work, I should speak evil of no one, I should avoid quarreling, I should be gentle and show perfect courtesy to all people.

[00:09:48] Now the truth of the gospel means that there will be times as believers that we disagree vehemently with the world that we live in.

[00:09:59] We're not to love the world or the things in the world.

[00:10:04] All that's in the world according to John in verse 2 16 are the desires of the flesh and desires of the eyes and the pride of life.

[00:10:12] So it stands to reason that as the world formulates positions and develops thought patterns based on the desires of the flesh, eyes and the pride of life,

[00:10:27] that there will be much that I do not agree with in this world system and culture that I'm in.

[00:10:32] But although the gospel will mean that I disagree at times with the world, the gospel means I will also love and value the people of the world.

[00:10:44] You might remember the famous or infamous prophet Jonah from the Old Testament.

[00:10:51] And how he really never got his mind or his heart, at least in the written pages of his book, around a love of God for the people of Nineveh.

[00:11:01] Personally I think that later he realized his error and did love the people of Nineveh thus he wrote the book of Jonah.

[00:11:11] But at least on the pages of the book what we do know for sure is that Jonah had no compassion upon the people, no care for the people he wanted to see,

[00:11:23] the wrath of God poured out upon the Assyrian Nineveh people.

[00:11:29] But the gospel of Jesus Christ means that I will love and value the people of the world.

[00:11:36] So, you know these things to treat people with decency and kindness, to obey our governing authorities at times because of difficulties within our own hearts

[00:11:47] and also difficulties with the people and the governments of the world, this can be difficult to do to actually live in this kind of way before the world.

[00:12:00] So we've looked at how we're to treat the world but is there any help for us in doing so?

[00:12:06] Well let's read in verse 3.

[00:12:10] He says for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in Malice and envy hated by others and hating one another.

[00:12:25] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy.

[00:12:37] That actually might have been an early creed that Paul was quoting from.

[00:12:42] But here in answering the question, is there any help for me in living out this life treating the governing authorities, treating people with respect, obedience and decency?

[00:12:57] Is there any help for me? Well, the first thing that we see here in verse 3 through 5 is a doctrinal help. The reality that we have been saved by God.

[00:13:08] And when God saved us he saved us not according to our goodness but according to our works.

[00:13:16] You see one of the potential and subtle errors that a Christian can make is to forget what they were before Christ.

[00:13:25] We must remember our past position.

[00:13:28] We must remember that we were dead in trespasses and sins of Ephesians 2, verse 1.

[00:13:33] We must remember our past life in which we once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air and the passions of our flesh Ephesians 2, verse 2 and 3.

[00:13:46] And as we remember these things we should be filled with both humility in our attitude towards others but also hope towards others that if God in Christ could save us reaching to our lives then he could in Christ reach into our flesh.

[00:14:03] And we should be filled with humility in our flesh and to others' lives as well.

[00:14:08] People are constantly hearing a message of how to save themselves from all the religions and philosophies of the world.

[00:14:16] So Christians should not perpetuate that foolishness and that myth.

[00:14:22] All can be saved.

[00:14:25] And I believe that when we are rude and mean and unkind to the world around us, we are communicating works righteousness because what we're saying is if you were better I would treat you more kindly.

[00:14:41] That grates against the message of the gospel because the message of the gospel says you were not good yet God gave you the greatest kindness that anyone could ever give in giving his son.

[00:14:56] So a harsh and critical spirit communicates the wrong thing but a good and kind and merciful spirit can communicate the right thing.

[00:15:07] So when we're asking ourselves the question is there help for me in living this way before the world perhaps there's a bit of doctrinal help for us that we could remember our salvation and the gospel could help us kind of work through the way that we treat others.

[00:15:25] But there's more help than that he goes on at the end of verse 5 to say by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

[00:15:34] Whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by his grace we might become ares according to the hope of eternal life.

[00:15:45] So again is there help for me in treating the world this way? Well there's doctrinal help but also here spiritual help.

[00:15:54] So the Holy Spirit is very active towards believers and he has done so much for us in that he has washed and regenerated and renewed and has been poured out.

[00:16:18] And the Holy Spirit who has done all of these things can help us as citizens of this world.

[00:16:25] You see there will always be things that the Lord asks of our lives that feel rather impossible to us but he has embedded his Holy Spirit into us to empower us, to enable us to live out the commands that he has given to us in life.

[00:16:44] You remember what Simon Peter said to Jesus when Jesus told him to go out and cast his nets one more time.

[00:16:52] Peter answered and said, we toil all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.

[00:17:01] You see Jesus's command, his word is his enabling and the enabling comes through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[00:17:09] So when he tells Peter to walk on water or when he tells a layman to stretch out his hand when these things are spoken the power of Christ is embedded in the word of Christ.

[00:17:23] And so when we learn that as believers we are to submit to the governing authorities and treat people with decency and with kindness we must recall that his command is his enabling.

[00:17:38] We must recall that the reason for that enabling is the presence, the indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit inside of us.

[00:17:49] And so Paul says he poured him out richly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by his grace verse 7 we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

[00:18:01] Another help that we have in all of this is simply the positional help, the knowledge that we are his children.

[00:18:07] We are heirs with Jesus Christ and so we want to represent him well to the governing authorities and the people in our lives.

[00:18:17] So we have looked at a little bit at how we are to treat the world and have seen now some help for treating the world in that way.

[00:18:26] But in verse 8 to 11 I want to look at the question what is my motivation for living that way before God and man?

[00:18:36] Well, he says in verse 8 the saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

[00:18:47] These things are excellent and profitable for people but avoid foolish controversies genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless as for a person, verse 10,

[00:19:01] who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful he is self condemned.

[00:19:12] Now Paul begins this little paragraph with a common phrase in his pastoral letters first and second Timothy and now here also Titus when he says the saying is trustworthy.

[00:19:29] Now when Paul makes this statement he is actually helping us to a great degree to expand the impact of the gospel beyond the scope of the church world.

[00:19:44] It seems so often when we think about doing good works and being good believers we tend to focus in a microscopic way upon the gathering together of believers.

[00:19:55] But the way Paul describes it here is that they are good works that are excellent and profitable for people.

[00:20:02] So of course we should be able to easily imagine how church work can be excellent and profitable for people but we should also be able to easily imagine how the work in our companies or the work that we do socially, social work or military work or community work or family work

[00:20:24] can also be done in a way that is excellent and profitable for people.

[00:20:30] When a judge sits on her bench and offers good judgments and helps execute the law, the hope of course is that these things are being done in a way that are excellent and profitable for people when a teacher teaches or a police officer polices.

[00:20:49] These are things that can be done in a way that are excellent and profitable for people when a person runs their business or serves in a business they can be done in a way that are excellent and profitable for people.

[00:21:01] The way that we friend the way that we parent, they can all be done in ways that are actually good and helpful and profitable in people's lives.

[00:21:10] And so Paul is telling us a little bit more fully about these good works.

[00:21:16] Then he tells us something to avoid. We already read the list, foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and corals about the law.

[00:21:25] Now to be honest it's difficult to pin down exactly what Paul is referring to in this list.

[00:21:34] A genealogies and the law might reference some kind of dispute that had stemmed from Jewish believers or even Jewish non-believers.

[00:21:45] Clearly, he's not saying that all theological controversies should be avoided by believers. Jesus did not avoid them, the New Testament does not avoid them but engages them and goes right after them.

[00:21:58] The modifier in all of this seems to be foolish.

[00:22:03] Foolish controversies, foolish genealogies, foolish dissensions, foolish corals about the law.

[00:22:11] So there might be something here about speculation.

[00:22:15] You know this is a difficult excertation because normally when a person enters into controversy they don't think it's foolish at all.

[00:22:21] They think it's absolutely necessary but Paul is nonetheless exhorting Titus and us to avoid these things.

[00:22:30] He announces that a person who gets into this, that stirs up division is warped and sinful and self condemned, verse 10 and 11.

[00:22:44] And as Warren Wierspie once said he said, I learned that professed Christians who like to argue about the Bible are usually covering up some sin in their lives are very insecure and are usually unhappy at work or at home.

[00:22:59] And that can often be the case unfortunately. That when someone becomes an expert in a particular area and becomes argumentative and divisive about it, oftentimes it is masking up some sin or unhappiness unhealth in their lives.

[00:23:16] But what Paul announces here though is that if somebody is getting out of hand they should be warned once and then twice and then eventually you have nothing more he says to do with them.

[00:23:25] It's a three strikes in your out kind of scenario very similar to Matthew 18 and the outline that Jesus presented there.

[00:23:33] And so you know you have an opportunity here to discipline someone in the church it is being divisive.

[00:23:41] So if someone tries to get a following in the church in a divisive way he's to be confronted.

[00:23:47] If he repeats it confronts it again. If he repeats it a third time then he is to be dismissed she is to be dismissed from the fellowship.

[00:23:57] Unfortunately in our modern time many people don't allow themselves even the opportunity to come under church leadership in this kind of way and mirrorly when things don't go their way the first time will leave and try to find church leadership that will submit to their desires and their will.

[00:24:16] And so Paul gives Titus very specific directions on how to handle the divisive person.

[00:24:23] But again we're trying to ask the question what is my motivation for living this kind of way? Well again we go back to the phrase that good works are described by Paul at the end of verse 8 as things that are excellent and profitable for people.

[00:24:39] Now what I mean by motivation is simply this God's grace God's gospel profited us didn't it so because it as profited us so beautifully we want to profit other people.

[00:24:54] So why do I want to treat the world this way? Well because God has profited me and I want him and his truth through me to profit other people.

[00:25:06] I remember my father shared with me very early on and I walk with the Lord out of first Chronicles chapter 4 about a man named Jbez who apparently caused his mother great harm when he was born.

[00:25:20] And in his older years he prayed to God God bless me extend my border let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will not cause any pain and God granted his request.

[00:25:34] The prayer of that man seems to have been I want to be a blessing to the people around me God help me to be a blessing.

[00:25:44] So because God has blessed us we desire to bless others. Now finally there is a help for us a secret beautiful wonderful help for us in living this way before the world it comes from the final four verses of the book of Titus.

[00:26:03] Let me read it to you and then I'll make a comment he says when I send Artemis or Ticchicus to you do your best to come to me at Nicopolis.

[00:26:12] For I've decided to spend the winter there do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollo's on their way see that they lack nothing and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful all who are with me send greetings to you.

[00:26:30] Greet those who love us in the faith grace be with you all.

[00:26:35] So first he mentions Artemis and Ticchicus and that he's going to send them to Titus on the island of Crete.

[00:26:45] Artemis is not mentioned in the New Testament Ticchicus is mentioned five other times one of them Artemis or Ticchicus would be sent there by Paul.

[00:26:56] And so both of their names are Gentile in nature so it's an indicator that the gospel had gone well into the Gentile world and then he talks about sending from Crete Zenus or Apollo's do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollo's on their way.

[00:27:15] Zenus is unknown Apollo's is a familiar New Testament worker they might have been the ones who delivered the letter to Titus and were to receive a collection from the Cretan Church that Paul was going to dispense to believers who were in need.

[00:27:32] But he tells him one final time here to let our people to learn to devote themselves to good works and you know this is something that we should all stop and pause and consider how am I doing in the realm of out loud living my faith and doing good works for those around me.

[00:27:51] Then he referred to in verse 15 all who were with him everybody on his ministry team and he referred to those that he loved greet those who love us in the faith he knew that he was loved by this church and then he closed by saying grace be with you all.

[00:28:07] What I wanted to say about this final cluster of statements from Paul is that it's very clear that he was inside of a community of believers and I think that in a sense he's showing us a great help that we have in being a people zealous for good works in the world find a good community of believers to help affirm and reaffirm and hold accountable to that life that is being done.

[00:28:37] It's good and refreshing of doing good works it's so easy to drift from this life it's so easy to begin to self focus but as we put ourselves in healthy believing communities we will be inspired.

[00:28:53] We will also be confronted to be a people who live for God with the totality of our lives and with that we close the book of Titus God bless you and Amen.

[00:29:07] For listening for additional resources and teachings or to contact us please visit us at Nate coldrich.com