Intro:

So we return to the book of Titus tonight, concluding our look at this letter this evening.

You’ll remember from last week:

• Titus was one of Paul’s proteges (or disciples if you will).
• This type of letter was called a Pastoral Letter
• Includes
  • Doctrine
  • Leadership
  • Godliness
  • Instructions on how to appoint elders in the church
  • Exhortation to those in Christ to live in such a way so as to avoid bringing reproach upon Christ, for the sake of being a good witness.

Need to be very careful to make the distinction that Paul (in his letter to Titus), in talking about good conduct, good works, he was NOT referring to works unto salvation. We should never EVER mistake Paul’s words for legalism. He was explaining some of the reasons WHY we were to be diligent in our conduct and it had much to do with acting in accord with our faith. We noted the phrase Paul used in the very first verse, where he says “…truth, which accords with godliness” (ESV). A faith that actually matched our walk and how that spoke to our modeling for not only other Christians but also, the world. Not that we walk in the sight of the world FOR THE SAKE of the world, seeking the world’s approval (because we certainly don’t) but that we are to walk as in the sight of the LORD. And we spoke about how it was to be a pattern in our lives. Not that we were expecting a certain perfection in our conduct, but that rather there was an ongoing pattern of growth, a pattern of ever-increasing holiness, a pattern of ever-increasing joy, a pattern of ever increasing godliness in the way we walk out our faith.

This study was particularly convicting for me personally. I can never assume to know anyone else’s heart in these matters, in fact, I can’t even presume to know my OWN heart for that matter. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” as it says in Jeremiah 17:9. But the point is that at least as far as I DO know my own heart, I have become more and more conscious of how much I fail in my own conduct; how much I continually fail to “walk out” my own Christianity. Whether it’s the music I listen to, the movies I enjoy, etc. I have become increasingly more aware of when I’m NOT glorifying Christ. When I’m walking in a way that God hates. The more years that I walk with the Lord, the more aware I become of being much like the world in some of my conduct. It’s a hard thing to have to admit. But if I’m being intellectually honest, it’s a confession that needs to be made.

I remember a number of years ago, when I was still active in the actual day-to-day running of my business, I remember realizing at some point, “I don’t think any of my customers even know that I’m a Christian…”. It hurts to even admit that, even if just in recalling that memory. I’m not even talking about evangelizing here. I’m talking about my PRACTICAL witness for Christ. For all those years, I walked in a way that it wouldn’t have mattered WHAT I said to anyone because my actions showed who was TRULY Lord over MY life. In those times, I was. I was Lord over my life. I mean, sure – Christ was my savior. But was He Lord? You wouldn’t have been able to answer in the affirmative by the way I conducted myself. And so I began to be far more conscious of the “truth which accords with godliness”; more aware of my actions and how I conduct myself in my walk with the Lord in a PRACTICAL way. And again, this is not about ACTING like a Christian so that you can become a “better” one. This is about becoming the right person, FOR THE RIGHT REASON, and then because of that, walking in a way becoming of His grace.

Paul also mentions false teachers and the deception that they present. And so we are to beware these false teachers and rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine. And of course the primary aim of rebuking – remember – is to benefit the one being rebuked with correction in truth.

So with that, we now begin to pick up our overview of the second half of this letter beginning roughly with Chapter 2, and roughly with verses 11-15. That’s about where we left off. And this is really the heart of the letter. This is where Paul begins to really emphasize God’s sovereign purpose in appointing elders and in commanding God’s people to live in such a way as to avoid bringing reproach upon Christ and thereby to provide a reliable witness that brings God’s purpose of salvation to an unbelieving world, to pass. Paul talks a lot about good conduct among believers, but let’s remind ourselves of some of the reasons why:

The doctrines of grace and salvation through the Gospel are for ALL men. The Gospel, among other things, teaches us to forsake our sinful nature. Conversely, the Gospel is instructive to us in how we are to be more conscious of those things that are good and suited to a heavenly calling. Our duty: is to

• Deny ungodliness
• Live soberly
• Live righteously and godly

All of the world’s temptations, its richness in examples of corruption and wrongdoing, its enticements to use every good thing that God created wrongly.

It’s an interesting thing to consider that among the institutions that God ordained on earth, ie the Family, the Church, and the Government, it is the CHURCH that is to be a representation of Heaven on earth. Just a slice, a small TASTE of what is to come. That we are to act in love towards one another as brothers and sisters in Christ NOW, because THAT’S what it will be like in Heaven when we all get there. That we are to act in such a way so as to demonstrate Holiness NOW, because we’ll conduct ourselves that way and won’t be carnal in Heaven. That we are to walk in greater and greater Communion with God NOW because that is exactly what we look forward to in Heaven in the future. It’s not about performing a bunch of righteous acts with fervor and rigor. It’s the understanding, the truth that God, in His love through the Person and work of Jesus Christ, so loved US, that we should do no less than give ourselves up to HIM.

And now we close out Chapter 2 and move briskly into the first 7 verses of Chapter 3. And by the way, I was struck by a very interesting thing as I studied Titus in preparing this message. There’s a fascinating pattern that I think relates to 2 of the 3 aspects of our Christian life. Remember the 3 aspects, our:

• Salvation
• Sanctification
• Glorification

If you look at the 5th verse of Chapter 1, you see the words (in the ESV), “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and APPOINT elders in every town…”.  Then when you walk over to the very first verse in Chapter 2, we read Paul’s words, “But as for you, TEACH what accords with sound doctrine”. The NKJV uses the phrase “SPEAK the things which are proper for sound doctrine”. “Speak the things”: it means TEACH.  And then since we are now in Chapter 3, take a peek at that first word in the very first verse. Titus 3, verse 1, “REMIND them to be submissive to rulers and authorities…”. And so you see this interesting 3-fold exhortation to Titus from Paul to:

• Appoint
• Teach
• Remind

And isn’t that like our own walk? I don’t want to call it a “typology” but it’s sort of a shadow with US. Look at it: God first saved us (“Appointed”), and then through the process of sanctification, by the Word of God, through the Spirit of God, we are TAUGHT, and then after being taught, REMINDED of the Truth which we have been taught. Pretty cool.

24-hour Takeaway:

• Pastor Dale wants us to work on our weaknesses rather than our strengths
• “What have you LEARNED?”.
  • I realized that much of my own life is NOT learning NEW things – it’s being REMINDED of things I already know. Now that’s not to say that I’m not somehow learning new things constantly; (I AM). It’s just to say that more often than not, I find that I’m being REMINDED of the things which I’ve already been taught.

In verses 1-7 of Chapter 3, we’re reminded, through Paul to Titus, to be obedient to those who govern and to demonstrate our own faith through behavior that is becoming of what our Lord has done for us. This has to do with being model citizens BECAUSE we are to be model citizens for the sake of Christ. We’re never to be involved in riots or violent protests, especially when we are persecuted. You’ll recall that in the past few months, we had studied the book of 1st Peter with Pastor Dale on Sundays and even though that letter was written to a persecuted church, where Christians were being faced with egregious violence and slaughter, never ONCE did Peter call for an uprising against those responsible. He could have. But he didn’t. Christ, with only ONE WORD could have utterly UNMADE his enemies at the Cross, but He didn’t.

We are to show meekness toward all men, not just those we love. And meekness is often exceedingly difficult to demonstrate to those we DO love. Now, “meekness”, at its extreme, is described as an attitude whereby a person is willing to voluntarily submit themselves, without resistance, to the will of another. In even its MILDEST form, it’s that patient endurance of the offenses of another. Gentleness or Grace (Humility even) would be another word we might use.  And we are to extend that same expression of what Christ has done in and for US to others.

Now Paul, here in verse 3 of Chapter 3 begins to describe how much like the world we used to be and does so in fairly rich language. The children of the world are hateful, deserving to BE hated by others in the world. It was said by one commentator, speaking on this verse along with the next, that “their hatred for one another is their misery” and then how that’s juxtaposed by the duty of us who are in Christ to demonstrate the happiness in our salvation and our love to one another. I mean, especially seeing as how we have been DELIVERED out of all that misery. We have been effectively TRANSLATED, that is moved, from that condition of abject, utterly hopeless misery by the freely-given GRACE and MERCY of God ALONE, by way of the merit of Christ’s sufferings upon the cross in His glorious and finished work, and then into a process by which we are molded more and more into His likeness, by greater and greater degrees, all the days of our life here on earth. God the Father is God our Savior. His Holy Spirit is the FOUNTAIN of our salvation, our regeneration, our sanctification. And this whole blessing comes to us through the Person and finished work of Christ. To mirror that pattern we identified earlier, if you will, to “appoint”, to “teach”, and to “remind” us of what He’s taught us as we move through this earthly sojourn.

Again, good works must be IN US as a part of us, a part of our new nature but good works are NOT the cause of salvation. It isn’t even Christ-PLUS. It Is Christ ALONE. And because of that, and the fact that God’s love and grace has such a power as to change our hearts and grant us new affections towards Him, we then find a new principle of His grace – one that causes us to be moved and swayed by the Holy Spirit into a pattern of greater and greater holiness. You see, most people want to go to Heaven. Ask anyone. Everyone wants to be in Heaven upon their death. They just don’t want God to be there when they arrive. After all, many of those who profess Christianity only PRETEND to care about their holiness now. They want the fruit but not the pruning necessary. They want the Crown but without the Cross. A baptism in the river will not suffice. The outward washing of our flesh in Baptism is as the circumcision of the Jews who the Lord rebuked as “white-washed graves”. It is the heart that is to be “circumcised”, it is the inner man that is to be washed by the Holy Spirit. In other words, in referring to verses 5-6, the washing of regeneration that Paul speaks of here is both inward and spiritual! So again, I don’t want to devolve into a notion that good works are meritorious in a salvific sense. Because they aren’t, and that much is clear. Rather think of good works and godliness in our conduct as the outward seal or insignia of a far GREATER work that has been performed inside of us. Though we should never REST in that outward display of a greater, inner work, we are to be nevertheless DILIGENT in walking out our faith practically, “…truth which accords with godliness”.

Paul continues on and then mentions justification, an important point we can never overlook. Justification, in the Gospel sense, describes (positionally) right-standing with God. It is the forgiveness of sin, granted freely, where the sinner is now accepted as righteous through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, that is to say righteousness granted BY the work of Christ upon the cross, and received by way of faith. Now, God in justifying the sinner by means of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, now extends grace to us and is able to remain JUST because both He and His Law are now satisfied by the atoning work of Christ’s blood. And because of the fact that God’s forgiveness is granted through the PERFECT righteousness of Christ, and God’s Justice is satisfied by Christ, then by NO MEANS can a sinner himself merit the work of salvation.

In verses 8-11 Paul speaks of how SINCE God has extended grace towards us as redeemed sinners, that there exists now a need of good works. That we, as children of the Most High God make it our business to maintain good works, indeed to look for opportunities to do them, being motivated of course by the gratitude we have and the love that exists in us as Christ-bearers. Paul is acutely aware of the nonsense that Titus will undoubtedly face in the church plants in Crete that he was to be in charge over and exhorts him to avoid nonsensical conversations and debates with the false teachers there. He doesn’t want Titus to find himself embroiled in the idiocy of the Judaizers who insisted on obedience to the Mosaic Law which was an utter assault upon the Gospel; the Gospel being of course that we are justified by grace, through faith alone. In essence Paul wanted Titus to proclaim TRUTH and NOT be spending all of his time chasing arguments and error. Less time arguing, more time to evangelize is the idea. Should I even mention the application point here? I mean, this is a WONDERFUL exhortation to US. It is SO EASY for us as Christians to find ourselves arguing nonsensical and temporal things that have absolutely NO BEARING on our futures in the Kingdom of God. Pick your idiocy: politics is the hot one of course. How we rage against those on the opposite side of our own beliefs. In effect, the admonishment for us now is to spend less time commiserating about our current political landscape and MORE time learning about the character and nature of God! Otherwise is just plain vanity. After all, the love and study of sound biblical doctrine and truth is MOST edifying. Far more edifying than blowing your stack at something some worldly politician said or didn’t say.

And now, we finally approach the end of this letter from Paul to Titus. In verses 12-15 it’s basically the summation of the letter here in this block of verses. That we as Christians are to be honest in our work, to provide for ourselves and our families as we’re able to do so. We are, in a sense, under an obligation to work honorably in both our employment and our callings and in so doing, be in a greater, practical communion with God. Truth which accords with godliness.

And Paul finally concludes his letter with prayer and a wish of grace for all. He’s expressing his desire for God’s favor and love to be with Titus (and therefore with us). And we see that Grace is the chief favor that we would wish and pray for, not only for ourselves, but for others. And with that we close out our overview of Titus.

Intro:

We only have a couple of Wednesdays to move through the book of Titus together so instead of going deep, doing a verse-by-verse in-depth study as we normally do, we’re going to attempt to do more of an overview of this wonderful letter, sort of like what we’ve been doing with Pastor Dale as it relates to the overview of the First Testament or Old Testament on Wednesday nights.

Titus is a short book

• Written by Paul to his protege Titus.
• Titus is what’s referred to as a Pastoral Epistle.
• The are two other letters traditionally referred to as Pastoral Epistles and those are 1 & 2 Timothy
• Called Pastoral Epistles because they’re personal letters
  • Written directly to individual church leaders
  • Address matters of doctrine, leadership, and godliness.
  • This letter contains directions to Titus concerning the elders of the Church
    • Provides guidance/instruction on appointing elders
    • Encourages:
      • Obedience to those who govern in society
      • Diligence in good works
      • Avoidance of nonsense and heresy.

The general theme Paul addresses in his letter to Titus:

1. Godliness in leadership
2. Godliness in the church & at home
3. Godliness in the world

This is a letter that speaks to MODELING. How we are to MODEL, as Christians, for others. As Paul puts it, “…knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1).

In other words, our works, our deeds, our actions, HOW WE CONDUCT OURSELVES, should match our faith.

• “If we talk “the talk” then we oughta be walking “the walk”.
• A pattern of ever-increasing Humility, Holiness, and Happiness (Joy). Our relationship with Christ, our faith, should produce a pattern of these things. That you are being forged, more and more, into the likeness of Christ each and every day.

This letter speaks largely to modeling and how we’re to walk out our faith in matters of leadership at home, the church, and in the world. There’s an old maxim that says, “your actions are so loud that I cannot hear what you say”. God forbid that we would fit that! There’s an old cliche that you may have heard through the years that says that, “you are the only bible that most people will ever read, so act accordingly”. Not SPEAK accordingly – ACT accordingly. Talk is cheap. There are talkers and there are doers. Don’t be a talker.

• NOT about works unto salvation.
• IS about profession & possession of faith that accords with godliness.
• Nearness to God brings likeness to God. You cannot have an experience with Him and walk away unchanged. The more that you and I see God, the more of God will be seen in us. Seen in us. Not HEARD in us. SEEN!

Chapter 1:1-4:

Paul sends his salutations to Titus:

• Includes the phrase, “…knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness”.
  • It is this that sets the whole tone of the letter. We are to act in such a way that our actions cannot bring reproach upon Christ. Because ultimately, that is Who will wear the black eye for our mishandling of our own personal conduct; a conduct that does NOT accord with our faith.

If, in love, we share the Gospel Truth that an unrepentant sinner who dies in their sin will be separated from God for all eternity and they hate you for it, God will handle that. But if I’m a jerk because I’m operating out of the flesh, out of my own insecurity/pain/fear/whatever, and I injure someone with my words and actions that were designed to hurt that person, then I’M held accountable to that and I have brought reproach upon Christ. Let us walk in the sight of God. It’s so EASY to SOUND like a Christian. It’s an altogether different thing to WALK IT OUT. I think we all relate to that.

Note something really fascinating about what Paul writes here from verses 1-3 in Chapter 1.

[1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, [2]in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began [3]and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

In just these 3 verses, he points to the 3 aspects of our Chistian walk:

1. Salvation:  God’s plan to redeem the elect through the preaching of the Gospel
2. Sanctification:  God’s plan to build up the believers through the Word
3. Glorification:  God’s ultimate purpose to bring believers to eternal glory with Him

Okay that’s great information. But how do I apply that to my life in the context of this letter? Well, there are any number of ways depending on how the Holy Spirit ministers to you through that set of verses. But I might suggest: HOPE. How? Look at it: Whoever God SAVES, He SANCTIFIES. And whoever He SANCTIFIES, He GLORIFIES. (harmonizes with Romans 8:28-30). That should cause us GREAT hope! Remember this well: we went to the Master with nothing of our own, casting ourselves on His mercy; we believe that He died for us, and now, He will never throw us away. You and I did nothing to win His affections, therefore our bad works cannot sever that affection.

Chapter 1:5-9:

Paul is providing instructions to Titus on how to appoint pastors/leaders and notes the character and qualifications of those he is to choose, or appoint. Paul’s letter to Timothy is similar in terms of how the qualifications for leaders in those letters and in this one, harmonize. But there’s a VERY important pattern here: Christian leaders, Pastors, Elders, etc. AS GOD’S STEWARDS are to be ABOVE REPROACH and are to manage the affairs of their HOUSEHOLDS well, seeing as how they are to be examples to their respective flocks. Modeling. But lest we look at that and say, “Oh, well this just applies to Pastors, or church leadership, so I’m off the hook”, remember that the whole point is MODELING. It’s a point we can’t escape.

There’s a good reason a church leader should be “above reproach” (“BLAMELESS”). Because as servants of Christ, (that’s ALL of us), we are called to be ABLE MINISTERS of the Word in both speech and practice.

• Titus is to appoint those who are MODELING. MODELS, or examples, of good works, good character, and those able to manage their households and therefore, able to minister to others effectively.

Paul then goes on to describe false teachers and how faithful ministers must oppose such people, especially within the church beginning here in verse 10. Paul spends the next 6 verses, to the end of Chapter 1 in fact, pointing out those who serve their corruption at the expense of God’s people. Many easily-identifiable examples of this today. But what about the ones that aren’t so easily noticed? They’re particularly dangerous because they DON’T show up like growling beasts. They show up and because we’re often so easily seduced by the beautiful things they peddle, due in large part to the corrupt nature of our flesh, we can become susceptible to it.

Common false teaching today:

God is reduced to nothing more than a cosmic ATM machine – you can get God to do YOUR will and all is well. What LOW esteem of the character and nature of God. One of the reasons that the so-called “prosperity gospel” is so dangerous is because it promises exactly what the flesh wants. The TRUE Gospel says to your flesh, “You must die!”. The prosperity gospel says to your flesh, “You get to live!” and “You get everything that you, in your sinful, carnal state ever wanted”. That is NOT the gospel. That’s another gospel entirely. Paul is instructing Titus that false teaching is to be resisted, and even shamed, by way of SOUND DOCTRINE.

Apologetic point:

It appears here in Chapter 1 beginning in verse 12 through 13a. This is a point where Paul quotes a Cretan who had written, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”. Then Paul goes on to say, “This statement is true”. The attack used against the inerrancy of scripture is that Paul committed a logical fallacy because the Holy Spirit apparently inspired this letter, and the Holy Spirit can’t lie. Therefore the Bible must contain error.

Paul was a well-educated guy. He was trained by Gamaliel, the highly respected Jewish rabbi and was knowledgeable not only in Jewish law and literature but also in classical Greek literature. You may recall while he was lecturing to some Epicureans and Stoics back in Acts 17:22-34, and specifically in verse 28, Paul quotes both Epimenides and Aratus, using them to make his point.

So that brings us back to the “all Cretans are liars” thing. This is actually a form of a logical paradox commonly known as the “Paradox of Epimenides” and it goes something like this: “A Cretan said, ‘All Cretans are liars.’ ” If, as Paul affirms, this statement is true, then the statement is false because a Cretan, who is a liar, made it. These affirmations – that the statement is true and the statement is false – contradict each other and violate the logical “Law of Non-Contradiction”, because a statement cannot be both true and false at the same time.

In trying to better understand what seems to be a contradiction here, we need to realize that first off, Epimenides was a poet. Poets, playwrights, and other writers frequently use a literary technique known as “hyperbole”, which is simply defined as “a deliberate exaggeration used to make a point”. Saying that “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons,” is to comment on Cretan society as a whole and describes it as being immoral and decadent, not necessarily that every single individual in that society was a liar, evil beast, or lazy glutton. When we view that commentary in the light of hyperbole, there IS no logical paradox found in Titus 1:12. Epimenides was simply making a hyperbolic statement about the conduct and the culture of the people of Crete, and Paul was simply agreeing with him in order to point out to Titus the difficulty facing the Cretan elders that he was to appoint.

Coming to the end of Chapter 1

• Paul comments on Cretan society as a whole
• Exhorts Titus to rebuke those that act in accord with ungodliness (the Cretan comment)

The chief aim of any rebuke is for the BENEFIT of the one/ones being rebuked. Many people profess to know God. Yet, very often with their lives, they deny Him and reject Him. People often do a lot of talking about their Christianity but without a REAL, authentic relationship with Christ. People that LOVE to talk about what THEY are doing for the Lord but who really struggle to talk about what the Lord is doing in THEM; how much more broken we are, how much more aware we are of our own depravity and how hopelessly in need of a Savior we are. Let us never be those that have a form of godliness but are utterly without power. And let us be most ready to cast this charge upon ourselves before we cast it upon others. Let us all examine our own hearts. This is an exhortation to us all. Pastor Dale always says to me that there can come a point in Ministry where you can become so “good” at it that it stops reaching YOU. Let us never get to that point in our walk with Him.

Chapter 2:1-8:

Paul exhorts Titus to teach that which accords with sound doctrine. We are to behave in a way that is agreeable to Christine doctrine. We expect new Christians to falter in this area for a time while they are being built up, being “infants” in the Lord. Again, closeness with Christ should produce those 3 H’s we spoke of earlier: Humility, Holiness, and Happiness (Joy). Babies, for the most part, are adorable. But a 40 year old in a diaper with a pacifier isn’t cute at all; it’s disturbing. So why would we allow for that in our faith-walk? And I’m speaking of myself here – I’m still often somewhat crude in my banter and humor. I still listen to music that is so far from Christ-exalting. It pains me to say that I still treat people occasionally much like I would treat a stray animal. With a sort of general disregard. Christ never treats ME like that. So this message is very piercing for me personally. Be reminded: whoever God saves, He also sanctifies. And whoever He sanctifies, He glorifies. So have hope that even when you do fail, He has you. This message is necessary.

• We are reminded to be sober, not given to excess
• We are to seek greater comforts by seeking a greater communion with the Lord, a greater fellowship with God
• We are never to act in such a way that the Word of God might be blasphemed or suffer reproach because of something we did, in our own flesh

We don’t walk out our Christian lives for the sake of the world’s approval – we walk out our Christian lives as in the sight of God. Let us then act in such a way that we silence the mouths of our critics. After all, how amazing it is when someone in the world who would no sooner than open his mouth against a servant of Christ, can find no evil in him to speak of!

Chapter 2:9-10:

Paul is telling Titus

• Servants must know and do their duty to their earthly masters with a reference to their HEAVENLY One!
  • When being corrected in our work, let us not be disrespectful or provocative.
  • We are to accept correction without being argumentative
  • We must never excuse/justify our shortcomings because that only multiplies them.
  • We are never to use for our own personal gain, something that doesn’t belong to us, nor waste the resources which we are trusted with. This goes for wasting time at work also. If after all, we are being compensated for our labor and we give none, we are stealing. Remember that there is a bargain made between employers and employees: money is traded for labor. If we don’t labor while being compensated for it, then we’re committing theft. And Gee, what a wonderful witness for Christ that is. So you can begin to see here that it’s easy to talk about Christianity but what about the part where we actually have to live it? In this particular context, in the workplace.

Story about a former co-worker, years back:

• worked with a fellow believer who was constantly being rebuked by our boss because when they should have been working, they were standing around evangelizing. Such a bad witness for Christ.
• He was seen as lazy, incompetent, and was ultimately fired. He was passionate about the spiritual things but had no interest in practical Christianity. He just wouldn’t do his job; the one he was paid for.

There is no “gray area” in scripture for behavior like that. Least of all, not here in Titus. He could have evangelized on his breaks. During lunch. Before work, after work, whatever. No, he stole his employer’s resources because though the non-Christian employer held up his end of the bargain by paying this guy, the Christian employee chose selfishness instead. And it ruined any witness of Christ this guy had in that workplace. Nobody wanted any part of the gospel he was peddling because they saw what it produced.

Let’s imagine it another way: Let’s say this guy arrived early, started BEFORE his shift began, out-worked everyone there, stayed late and did all of it HAPPILY with a smile, because he realized that he was “serving as unto the Lord”. Now that’s a whole different witness for Christ, is it not?

I need to bring up Pastor Dale for a moment:

When I first met him just over 2 years ago while he and Donna were in Seattle, I met a guy who said he was a Pastor, whose wife was dying. I started to examine him very carefully. It was an unconscious thing but I watched him very carefully. I think I was expecting him to be just like every other Christian I had met: FAKE. Having a form of godliness but with no power whatsoever. “How are things, man?” – “Oh praise Jesus, God is good” all with a big phony smile on his face that would betray the reality of the pain underneath. Frankly, in my eyes, it wouldn’t just betray his reality – it would betray his faith. That’s what I was expecting. But that’s not what I saw! For the first time, I saw the hand of CHRIST heavy upon a man. A man who was so utterly broken, so utterly desperate to cling to the hem of Christ, so completely transparent, and because of it all, and how near to the Cross he had to be, seeing a man strong in Christ. It BLEW.MY.MIND. This guy was actually WALKING-IT-OUT. No fakery, no phoniness, not put-on happy-slappy-nonsense. Just a real dude squarely in the arms of Christ. Sharing the pain, sharing the process, not just the victory that so many of us love to celebrate. I could go on and on, but what I’m trying to highlight here is the truth which Paul is writing to Titus about: how we are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in our conduct. The truth according to godliness. Now I’m NOT attempting to elevate Pastor Dale to sainthood here. He’d be the first person to throw me out if I did so. What I AM saying is that the way UP is DOWN.

Intro:

So we return to the book of Titus tonight, concluding our look at this letter this evening.

You’ll remember from last week:

• Titus was one of Paul’s proteges (or disciples if you will).
• This type of letter was called a Pastoral Letter
• Includes
  • Doctrine
  • Leadership
  • Godliness
  • Instructions on how to appoint elders in the church
  • Exhortation to those in Christ to live in such a way so as to avoid bringing reproach upon Christ, for the sake of being a good witness.

Need to be very careful to make the distinction that Paul (in his letter to Titus), in talking about good conduct, good works, he was NOT referring to works unto salvation. We should never EVER mistake Paul’s words for legalism. He was explaining some of the reasons WHY we were to be diligent in our conduct and it had much to do with acting in accord with our faith. We noted the phrase Paul used in the very first verse, where he says “…truth, which accords with godliness” (ESV). A faith that actually matched our walk and how that spoke to our modeling for not only other Christians but also, the world. Not that we walk in the sight of the world FOR THE SAKE of the world, seeking the world’s approval (because we certainly don’t) but that we are to walk as in the sight of the LORD. And we spoke about how it was to be a pattern in our lives. Not that we were expecting a certain perfection in our conduct, but that rather there was an ongoing pattern of growth, a pattern of ever-increasing holiness, a pattern of ever-increasing joy, a pattern of ever increasing godliness in the way we walk out our faith.

This study was particularly convicting for me personally. I can never assume to know anyone else’s heart in these matters, in fact, I can’t even presume to know my OWN heart for that matter. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” as it says in Jeremiah 17:9. But the point is that at least as far as I DO know my own heart, I have become more and more conscious of how much I fail in my own conduct; how much I continually fail to “walk out” my own Christianity. Whether it’s the music I listen to, the movies I enjoy, etc. I have become increasingly more aware of when I’m NOT glorifying Christ. When I’m walking in a way that God hates. The more years that I walk with the Lord, the more aware I become of being much like the world in some of my conduct. It’s a hard thing to have to admit. But if I’m being intellectually honest, it’s a confession that needs to be made.

I remember a number of years ago, when I was still active in the actual day-to-day running of my business, I remember realizing at some point, “I don’t think any of my customers even know that I’m a Christian…”. It hurts to even admit that, even if just in recalling that memory. I’m not even talking about evangelizing here. I’m talking about my PRACTICAL witness for Christ. For all those years, I walked in a way that it wouldn’t have mattered WHAT I said to anyone because my actions showed who was TRULY Lord over MY life. In those times, I was. I was Lord over my life. I mean, sure – Christ was my savior. But was He Lord? You wouldn’t have been able to answer in the affirmative by the way I conducted myself. And so I began to be far more conscious of the “truth which accords with godliness”; more aware of my actions and how I conduct myself in my walk with the Lord in a PRACTICAL way. And again, this is not about ACTING like a Christian so that you can become a “better” one. This is about becoming the right person, FOR THE RIGHT REASON, and then because of that, walking in a way becoming of His grace.

Paul also mentions false teachers and the deception that they present. And so we are to beware these false teachers and rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine. And of course the primary aim of rebuking – remember – is to benefit the one being rebuked with correction in truth.

So with that, we now begin to pick up our overview of the second half of this letter beginning roughly with Chapter 2, and roughly with verses 11-15. That’s about where we left off. And this is really the heart of the letter. This is where Paul begins to really emphasize God’s sovereign purpose in appointing elders and in commanding God’s people to live in such a way as to avoid bringing reproach upon Christ and thereby to provide a reliable witness that brings God’s purpose of salvation to an unbelieving world, to pass. Paul talks a lot about good conduct among believers, but let’s remind ourselves of some of the reasons why:

The doctrines of grace and salvation through the Gospel are for ALL men. The Gospel, among other things, teaches us to forsake our sinful nature. Conversely, the Gospel is instructive to us in how we are to be more conscious of those things that are good and suited to a heavenly calling. Our duty: is to

• Deny ungodliness
• Live soberly
• Live righteously and godly

All of the world’s temptations, its richness in examples of corruption and wrongdoing, its enticements to use every good thing that God created wrongly.

It’s an interesting thing to consider that among the institutions that God ordained on earth, ie the Family, the Church, and the Government, it is the CHURCH that is to be a representation of Heaven on earth. Just a slice, a small TASTE of what is to come. That we are to act in love towards one another as brothers and sisters in Christ NOW, because THAT’S what it will be like in Heaven when we all get there. That we are to act in such a way so as to demonstrate Holiness NOW, because we’ll conduct ourselves that way and won’t be carnal in Heaven. That we are to walk in greater and greater Communion with God NOW because that is exactly what we look forward to in Heaven in the future. It’s not about performing a bunch of righteous acts with fervor and rigor. It’s the understanding, the truth that God, in His love through the Person and work of Jesus Christ, so loved US, that we should do no less than give ourselves up to HIM.

And now we close out Chapter 2 and move briskly into the first 7 verses of Chapter 3. And by the way, I was struck by a very interesting thing as I studied Titus in preparing this message. There’s a fascinating pattern that I think relates to 2 of the 3 aspects of our Christian life. Remember the 3 aspects, our:

• Salvation
• Sanctification
• Glorification

If you look at the 5th verse of Chapter 1, you see the words (in the ESV), “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and APPOINT elders in every town…”.  Then when you walk over to the very first verse in Chapter 2, we read Paul’s words, “But as for you, TEACH what accords with sound doctrine”. The NKJV uses the phrase “SPEAK the things which are proper for sound doctrine”. “Speak the things”: it means TEACH.  And then since we are now in Chapter 3, take a peek at that first word in the very first verse. Titus 3, verse 1, “REMIND them to be submissive to rulers and authorities…”. And so you see this interesting 3-fold exhortation to Titus from Paul to:

• Appoint
• Teach
• Remind

And isn’t that like our own walk? I don’t want to call it a “typology” but it’s sort of a shadow with US. Look at it: God first saved us (“Appointed”), and then through the process of sanctification, by the Word of God, through the Spirit of God, we are TAUGHT, and then after being taught, REMINDED of the Truth which we have been taught. Pretty cool.

24-hour Takeaway:

• Pastor Dale wants us to work on our weaknesses rather than our strengths
• “What have you LEARNED?”.
  • I realized that much of my own life is NOT learning NEW things – it’s being REMINDED of things I already know. Now that’s not to say that I’m not somehow learning new things constantly; (I AM). It’s just to say that more often than not, I find that I’m being REMINDED of the things which I’ve already been taught.

In verses 1-7 of Chapter 3, we’re reminded, through Paul to Titus, to be obedient to those who govern and to demonstrate our own faith through behavior that is becoming of what our Lord has done for us. This has to do with being model citizens BECAUSE we are to be model citizens for the sake of Christ. We’re never to be involved in riots or violent protests, especially when we are persecuted. You’ll recall that in the past few months, we had studied the book of 1st Peter with Pastor Dale on Sundays and even though that letter was written to a persecuted church, where Christians were being faced with egregious violence and slaughter, never ONCE did Peter call for an uprising against those responsible. He could have. But he didn’t. Christ, with only ONE WORD could have utterly UNMADE his enemies at the Cross, but He didn’t.

We are to show meekness toward all men, not just those we love. And meekness is often exceedingly difficult to demonstrate to those we DO love. Now, “meekness”, at its extreme, is described as an attitude whereby a person is willing to voluntarily submit themselves, without resistance, to the will of another. In even its MILDEST form, it’s that patient endurance of the offenses of another. Gentleness or Grace (Humility even) would be another word we might use.  And we are to extend that same expression of what Christ has done in and for US to others.

Now Paul, here in verse 3 of Chapter 3 begins to describe how much like the world we used to be and does so in fairly rich language. The children of the world are hateful, deserving to BE hated by others in the world. It was said by one commentator, speaking on this verse along with the next, that “their hatred for one another is their misery” and then how that’s juxtaposed by the duty of us who are in Christ to demonstrate the happiness in our salvation and our love to one another. I mean, especially seeing as how we have been DELIVERED out of all that misery. We have been effectively TRANSLATED, that is moved, from that condition of abject, utterly hopeless misery by the freely-given GRACE and MERCY of God ALONE, by way of the merit of Christ’s sufferings upon the cross in His glorious and finished work, and then into a process by which we are molded more and more into His likeness, by greater and greater degrees, all the days of our life here on earth. God the Father is God our Savior. His Holy Spirit is the FOUNTAIN of our salvation, our regeneration, our sanctification. And this whole blessing comes to us through the Person and finished work of Christ. To mirror that pattern we identified earlier, if you will, to “appoint”, to “teach”, and to “remind” us of what He’s taught us as we move through this earthly sojourn.

Again, good works must be IN US as a part of us, a part of our new nature but good works are NOT the cause of salvation. It isn’t even Christ-PLUS. It Is Christ ALONE. And because of that, and the fact that God’s love and grace has such a power as to change our hearts and grant us new affections towards Him, we then find a new principle of His grace – one that causes us to be moved and swayed by the Holy Spirit into a pattern of greater and greater holiness. You see, most people want to go to Heaven. Ask anyone. Everyone wants to be in Heaven upon their death. They just don’t want God to be there when they arrive. After all, many of those who profess Christianity only PRETEND to care about their holiness now. They want the fruit but not the pruning necessary. They want the Crown but without the Cross. A baptism in the river will not suffice. The outward washing of our flesh in Baptism is as the circumcision of the Jews who the Lord rebuked as “white-washed graves”. It is the heart that is to be “circumcised”, it is the inner man that is to be washed by the Holy Spirit. In other words, in referring to verses 5-6, the washing of regeneration that Paul speaks of here is both inward and spiritual! So again, I don’t want to devolve into a notion that good works are meritorious in a salvific sense. Because they aren’t, and that much is clear. Rather think of good works and godliness in our conduct as the outward seal or insignia of a far GREATER work that has been performed inside of us. Though we should never REST in that outward display of a greater, inner work, we are to be nevertheless DILIGENT in walking out our faith practically, “…truth which accords with godliness”.

Paul continues on and then mentions justification, an important point we can never overlook. Justification, in the Gospel sense, describes (positionally) right-standing with God. It is the forgiveness of sin, granted freely, where the sinner is now accepted as righteous through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, that is to say righteousness granted BY the work of Christ upon the cross, and received by way of faith. Now, God in justifying the sinner by means of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, now extends grace to us and is able to remain JUST because both He and His Law are now satisfied by the atoning work of Christ’s blood. And because of the fact that God’s forgiveness is granted through the PERFECT righteousness of Christ, and God’s Justice is satisfied by Christ, then by NO MEANS can a sinner himself merit the work of salvation.

In verses 8-11 Paul speaks of how SINCE God has extended grace towards us as redeemed sinners, that there exists now a need of good works. That we, as children of the Most High God make it our business to maintain good works, indeed to look for opportunities to do them, being motivated of course by the gratitude we have and the love that exists in us as Christ-bearers. Paul is acutely aware of the nonsense that Titus will undoubtedly face in the church plants in Crete that he was to be in charge over and exhorts him to avoid nonsensical conversations and debates with the false teachers there. He doesn’t want Titus to find himself embroiled in the idiocy of the Judaizers who insisted on obedience to the Mosaic Law which was an utter assault upon the Gospel; the Gospel being of course that we are justified by grace, through faith alone. In essence Paul wanted Titus to proclaim TRUTH and NOT be spending all of his time chasing arguments and error. Less time arguing, more time to evangelize is the idea. Should I even mention the application point here? I mean, this is a WONDERFUL exhortation to US. It is SO EASY for us as Christians to find ourselves arguing nonsensical and temporal things that have absolutely NO BEARING on our futures in the Kingdom of God. Pick your idiocy: politics is the hot one of course. How we rage against those on the opposite side of our own beliefs. In effect, the admonishment for us now is to spend less time commiserating about our current political landscape and MORE time learning about the character and nature of God! Otherwise is just plain vanity. After all, the love and study of sound biblical doctrine and truth is MOST edifying. Far more edifying than blowing your stack at something some worldly politician said or didn’t say.

And now, we finally approach the end of this letter from Paul to Titus. In verses 12-15 it’s basically the summation of the letter here in this block of verses. That we as Christians are to be honest in our work, to provide for ourselves and our families as we’re able to do so. We are, in a sense, under an obligation to work honorably in both our employment and our callings and in so doing, be in a greater, practical communion with God. Truth which accords with godliness.

And Paul finally concludes his letter with prayer and a wish of grace for all. He’s expressing his desire for God’s favor and love to be with Titus (and therefore with us). And we see that Grace is the chief favor that we would wish and pray for, not only for ourselves, but for others. And with that we close out our overview of Titus.

Intro:

We only have a couple of Wednesdays to move through the book of Titus together so instead of going deep, doing a verse-by-verse in-depth study as we normally do, we’re going to attempt to do more of an overview of this wonderful letter, sort of like what we’ve been doing with Pastor Dale as it relates to the overview of the First Testament or Old Testament on Wednesday nights.

Titus is a short book

• Written by Paul to his protege Titus.
• Titus is what’s referred to as a Pastoral Epistle.
• The are two other letters traditionally referred to as Pastoral Epistles and those are 1 & 2 Timothy
• Called Pastoral Epistles because they’re personal letters
  • Written directly to individual church leaders
  • Address matters of doctrine, leadership, and godliness.
  • This letter contains directions to Titus concerning the elders of the Church
    • Provides guidance/instruction on appointing elders
    • Encourages:
      • Obedience to those who govern in society
      • Diligence in good works
      • Avoidance of nonsense and heresy.

The general theme Paul addresses in his letter to Titus:

1. Godliness in leadership
2. Godliness in the church & at home
3. Godliness in the world

This is a letter that speaks to MODELING. How we are to MODEL, as Christians, for others. As Paul puts it, “…knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1).

In other words, our works, our deeds, our actions, HOW WE CONDUCT OURSELVES, should match our faith.

• “If we talk “the talk” then we oughta be walking “the walk”.
• A pattern of ever-increasing Humility, Holiness, and Happiness (Joy). Our relationship with Christ, our faith, should produce a pattern of these things. That you are being forged, more and more, into the likeness of Christ each and every day.

This letter speaks largely to modeling and how we’re to walk out our faith in matters of leadership at home, the church, and in the world. There’s an old maxim that says, “your actions are so loud that I cannot hear what you say”. God forbid that we would fit that! There’s an old cliche that you may have heard through the years that says that, “you are the only bible that most people will ever read, so act accordingly”. Not SPEAK accordingly – ACT accordingly. Talk is cheap. There are talkers and there are doers. Don’t be a talker.

• NOT about works unto salvation.
• IS about profession & possession of faith that accords with godliness.
• Nearness to God brings likeness to God. You cannot have an experience with Him and walk away unchanged. The more that you and I see God, the more of God will be seen in us. Seen in us. Not HEARD in us. SEEN!

Chapter 1:1-4:

Paul sends his salutations to Titus:

• Includes the phrase, “…knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness”.
  • It is this that sets the whole tone of the letter. We are to act in such a way that our actions cannot bring reproach upon Christ. Because ultimately, that is Who will wear the black eye for our mishandling of our own personal conduct; a conduct that does NOT accord with our faith.

If, in love, we share the Gospel Truth that an unrepentant sinner who dies in their sin will be separated from God for all eternity and they hate you for it, God will handle that. But if I’m a jerk because I’m operating out of the flesh, out of my own insecurity/pain/fear/whatever, and I injure someone with my words and actions that were designed to hurt that person, then I’M held accountable to that and I have brought reproach upon Christ. Let us walk in the sight of God. It’s so EASY to SOUND like a Christian. It’s an altogether different thing to WALK IT OUT. I think we all relate to that.

Note something really fascinating about what Paul writes here from verses 1-3 in Chapter 1.

[1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, [2]in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began [3]and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

In just these 3 verses, he points to the 3 aspects of our Chistian walk:

1. Salvation:  God’s plan to redeem the elect through the preaching of the Gospel
2. Sanctification:  God’s plan to build up the believers through the Word
3. Glorification:  God’s ultimate purpose to bring believers to eternal glory with Him

Okay that’s great information. But how do I apply that to my life in the context of this letter? Well, there are any number of ways depending on how the Holy Spirit ministers to you through that set of verses. But I might suggest: HOPE. How? Look at it: Whoever God SAVES, He SANCTIFIES. And whoever He SANCTIFIES, He GLORIFIES. (harmonizes with Romans 8:28-30). That should cause us GREAT hope! Remember this well: we went to the Master with nothing of our own, casting ourselves on His mercy; we believe that He died for us, and now, He will never throw us away. You and I did nothing to win His affections, therefore our bad works cannot sever that affection.

Chapter 1:5-9:

Paul is providing instructions to Titus on how to appoint pastors/leaders and notes the character and qualifications of those he is to choose, or appoint. Paul’s letter to Timothy is similar in terms of how the qualifications for leaders in those letters and in this one, harmonize. But there’s a VERY important pattern here: Christian leaders, Pastors, Elders, etc. AS GOD’S STEWARDS are to be ABOVE REPROACH and are to manage the affairs of their HOUSEHOLDS well, seeing as how they are to be examples to their respective flocks. Modeling. But lest we look at that and say, “Oh, well this just applies to Pastors, or church leadership, so I’m off the hook”, remember that the whole point is MODELING. It’s a point we can’t escape.

There’s a good reason a church leader should be “above reproach” (“BLAMELESS”). Because as servants of Christ, (that’s ALL of us), we are called to be ABLE MINISTERS of the Word in both speech and practice.

• Titus is to appoint those who are MODELING. MODELS, or examples, of good works, good character, and those able to manage their households and therefore, able to minister to others effectively.

Paul then goes on to describe false teachers and how faithful ministers must oppose such people, especially within the church beginning here in verse 10. Paul spends the next 6 verses, to the end of Chapter 1 in fact, pointing out those who serve their corruption at the expense of God’s people. Many easily-identifiable examples of this today. But what about the ones that aren’t so easily noticed? They’re particularly dangerous because they DON’T show up like growling beasts. They show up and because we’re often so easily seduced by the beautiful things they peddle, due in large part to the corrupt nature of our flesh, we can become susceptible to it.

Common false teaching today:

God is reduced to nothing more than a cosmic ATM machine – you can get God to do YOUR will and all is well. What LOW esteem of the character and nature of God. One of the reasons that the so-called “prosperity gospel” is so dangerous is because it promises exactly what the flesh wants. The TRUE Gospel says to your flesh, “You must die!”. The prosperity gospel says to your flesh, “You get to live!” and “You get everything that you, in your sinful, carnal state ever wanted”. That is NOT the gospel. That’s another gospel entirely. Paul is instructing Titus that false teaching is to be resisted, and even shamed, by way of SOUND DOCTRINE.

Apologetic point:

It appears here in Chapter 1 beginning in verse 12 through 13a. This is a point where Paul quotes a Cretan who had written, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”. Then Paul goes on to say, “This statement is true”. The attack used against the inerrancy of scripture is that Paul committed a logical fallacy because the Holy Spirit apparently inspired this letter, and the Holy Spirit can’t lie. Therefore the Bible must contain error.

Paul was a well-educated guy. He was trained by Gamaliel, the highly respected Jewish rabbi and was knowledgeable not only in Jewish law and literature but also in classical Greek literature. You may recall while he was lecturing to some Epicureans and Stoics back in Acts 17:22-34, and specifically in verse 28, Paul quotes both Epimenides and Aratus, using them to make his point.

So that brings us back to the “all Cretans are liars” thing. This is actually a form of a logical paradox commonly known as the “Paradox of Epimenides” and it goes something like this: “A Cretan said, ‘All Cretans are liars.’ ” If, as Paul affirms, this statement is true, then the statement is false because a Cretan, who is a liar, made it. These affirmations – that the statement is true and the statement is false – contradict each other and violate the logical “Law of Non-Contradiction”, because a statement cannot be both true and false at the same time.

In trying to better understand what seems to be a contradiction here, we need to realize that first off, Epimenides was a poet. Poets, playwrights, and other writers frequently use a literary technique known as “hyperbole”, which is simply defined as “a deliberate exaggeration used to make a point”. Saying that “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons,” is to comment on Cretan society as a whole and describes it as being immoral and decadent, not necessarily that every single individual in that society was a liar, evil beast, or lazy glutton. When we view that commentary in the light of hyperbole, there IS no logical paradox found in Titus 1:12. Epimenides was simply making a hyperbolic statement about the conduct and the culture of the people of Crete, and Paul was simply agreeing with him in order to point out to Titus the difficulty facing the Cretan elders that he was to appoint.

Coming to the end of Chapter 1

• Paul comments on Cretan society as a whole
• Exhorts Titus to rebuke those that act in accord with ungodliness (the Cretan comment)

The chief aim of any rebuke is for the BENEFIT of the one/ones being rebuked. Many people profess to know God. Yet, very often with their lives, they deny Him and reject Him. People often do a lot of talking about their Christianity but without a REAL, authentic relationship with Christ. People that LOVE to talk about what THEY are doing for the Lord but who really struggle to talk about what the Lord is doing in THEM; how much more broken we are, how much more aware we are of our own depravity and how hopelessly in need of a Savior we are. Let us never be those that have a form of godliness but are utterly without power. And let us be most ready to cast this charge upon ourselves before we cast it upon others. Let us all examine our own hearts. This is an exhortation to us all. Pastor Dale always says to me that there can come a point in Ministry where you can become so “good” at it that it stops reaching YOU. Let us never get to that point in our walk with Him.

Chapter 2:1-8:

Paul exhorts Titus to teach that which accords with sound doctrine. We are to behave in a way that is agreeable to Christine doctrine. We expect new Christians to falter in this area for a time while they are being built up, being “infants” in the Lord. Again, closeness with Christ should produce those 3 H’s we spoke of earlier: Humility, Holiness, and Happiness (Joy). Babies, for the most part, are adorable. But a 40 year old in a diaper with a pacifier isn’t cute at all; it’s disturbing. So why would we allow for that in our faith-walk? And I’m speaking of myself here – I’m still often somewhat crude in my banter and humor. I still listen to music that is so far from Christ-exalting. It pains me to say that I still treat people occasionally much like I would treat a stray animal. With a sort of general disregard. Christ never treats ME like that. So this message is very piercing for me personally. Be reminded: whoever God saves, He also sanctifies. And whoever He sanctifies, He glorifies. So have hope that even when you do fail, He has you. This message is necessary.

• We are reminded to be sober, not given to excess
• We are to seek greater comforts by seeking a greater communion with the Lord, a greater fellowship with God
• We are never to act in such a way that the Word of God might be blasphemed or suffer reproach because of something we did, in our own flesh

We don’t walk out our Christian lives for the sake of the world’s approval – we walk out our Christian lives as in the sight of God. Let us then act in such a way that we silence the mouths of our critics. After all, how amazing it is when someone in the world who would no sooner than open his mouth against a servant of Christ, can find no evil in him to speak of!

Chapter 2:9-10:

Paul is telling Titus

• Servants must know and do their duty to their earthly masters with a reference to their HEAVENLY One!
  • When being corrected in our work, let us not be disrespectful or provocative.
  • We are to accept correction without being argumentative
  • We must never excuse/justify our shortcomings because that only multiplies them.
  • We are never to use for our own personal gain, something that doesn’t belong to us, nor waste the resources which we are trusted with. This goes for wasting time at work also. If after all, we are being compensated for our labor and we give none, we are stealing. Remember that there is a bargain made between employers and employees: money is traded for labor. If we don’t labor while being compensated for it, then we’re committing theft. And Gee, what a wonderful witness for Christ that is. So you can begin to see here that it’s easy to talk about Christianity but what about the part where we actually have to live it? In this particular context, in the workplace.

Story about a former co-worker, years back:

• worked with a fellow believer who was constantly being rebuked by our boss because when they should have been working, they were standing around evangelizing. Such a bad witness for Christ.
• He was seen as lazy, incompetent, and was ultimately fired. He was passionate about the spiritual things but had no interest in practical Christianity. He just wouldn’t do his job; the one he was paid for.

There is no “gray area” in scripture for behavior like that. Least of all, not here in Titus. He could have evangelized on his breaks. During lunch. Before work, after work, whatever. No, he stole his employer’s resources because though the non-Christian employer held up his end of the bargain by paying this guy, the Christian employee chose selfishness instead. And it ruined any witness of Christ this guy had in that workplace. Nobody wanted any part of the gospel he was peddling because they saw what it produced.

Let’s imagine it another way: Let’s say this guy arrived early, started BEFORE his shift began, out-worked everyone there, stayed late and did all of it HAPPILY with a smile, because he realized that he was “serving as unto the Lord”. Now that’s a whole different witness for Christ, is it not?

I need to bring up Pastor Dale for a moment:

When I first met him just over 2 years ago while he and Donna were in Seattle, I met a guy who said he was a Pastor, whose wife was dying. I started to examine him very carefully. It was an unconscious thing but I watched him very carefully. I think I was expecting him to be just like every other Christian I had met: FAKE. Having a form of godliness but with no power whatsoever. “How are things, man?” – “Oh praise Jesus, God is good” all with a big phony smile on his face that would betray the reality of the pain underneath. Frankly, in my eyes, it wouldn’t just betray his reality – it would betray his faith. That’s what I was expecting. But that’s not what I saw! For the first time, I saw the hand of CHRIST heavy upon a man. A man who was so utterly broken, so utterly desperate to cling to the hem of Christ, so completely transparent, and because of it all, and how near to the Cross he had to be, seeing a man strong in Christ. It BLEW.MY.MIND. This guy was actually WALKING-IT-OUT. No fakery, no phoniness, not put-on happy-slappy-nonsense. Just a real dude squarely in the arms of Christ. Sharing the pain, sharing the process, not just the victory that so many of us love to celebrate. I could go on and on, but what I’m trying to highlight here is the truth which Paul is writing to Titus about: how we are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in our conduct. The truth according to godliness. Now I’m NOT attempting to elevate Pastor Dale to sainthood here. He’d be the first person to throw me out if I did so. What I AM saying is that the way UP is DOWN.