Devoted to Good
What are you devoted to? We're called to be devoted to God, but what does that look like? We have a clue in Paul's repeated command that believers be devoted to doing what is good. It comes up twice in this last chapter. We already have an idea what that looks like, but Paul fleshes it out even more in these few verses. Come see what he has to teach us, and check how you're doing in your devotion to God. From Titus 3:1-15.
Message Text:
Introduction:
The focus of Titus is right living in response to Sound Doctrine. God has a little more to say to us about that in this final chapter of Titus. We’ve also see that to fail to live in a way that agrees with and adorns Sound Doctrine is to quarrel with God. And those who quarrel with Sound Doctrine are to be silenced. God directs Paul to show us how exactly to accomplish that in this final chapter.
Two-thirds of the previous chapter dealt with instructions to specific groups of people. Now Paul turns to instructions that apply to everyone equally. You’ll notice some repeats. Character qualities and moral instructions apply to all believers, though the relational context in which they are expressed will vary.
As in previous passages, there’s a lot in these 15 verses. Something for everyone! Do not try to absorb it all. You can always go online and review this message at a later date. Today, listen for the one thing that the Holy Spirit lays heaviest on you, and take that home to work on this week.
3:1:
The Spirit inspired Paul to start us off today with a tough one. Subjecting oneself to rulers and authorities is especially hard for the sinner. But God calls the Christian to willingly submit themselves to every authority instituted among men. We’ve seen this before. Whether governors or kings and any political/government authority or any other authority in life, including bosses and husbands and parents and church leaders.
Submission is in large part defined by obedience, and the Greek word here carries the idea that we don’t just do what is commanded, but we show trust in and respect for the one in authority.
Every time we come across the command to obey authorities, I always feel compelled to provide a caveat. But I wonder if you’ve noticed that the Holy Spirit rarely inspired His authors to add conditions when they recorded such commands. Isn’t that interesting? See? There’s no limitation here, only “be subject, be obedient.”
Jesus said of the Pharisees, that because they sat in the seat of Moses, the Jews were required to do what they said—but not to do what they did, because they didn’t do what they commanded (Matthew 23:1-3). A caveat! But notice, it’s not a limitation on our obedience, but a warning not to emulate their disobedience.
There is actually a condition given here: “Be ready to do whatever is good.” That’s not just a general statement: always do good (which is true). Really, it is the defining characteristic of our submission and obedience. We should be ready to jump whenever asked to do anything good in God’s eyes. We should be faithfully carrying out standing instructions that are good and right and pleasing in God’s sight. And any other instructions that are not in clear violation of God’s command or character.
I don’t need to search the Scriptures to see if it is pleasing to God to drive a van and deliver car parts as part of my (former) job. These three commands already cover that. If, however, Scripture had a definite injunction against delivering car parts, I would have to find another job. (It doesn’t.)
The danger with cautions, however, is how quickly we turn them to justify our rebelliousness. A government requires churches to register with and submit to government oversight, and we take that as just cause to deny their authority over us. (I’m speaking of China.) It’s like we’re just looking for a reason to reject God’s appointed authorities. Someone in authority over us gives one bad instruction, makes a bad choice here or there, and suddenly we’ve lost all faith and trust in them. We have to take matters into our own hands. The disrespect that springs up in our hearts toward them eventually grows into full-blown contempt, on display in how we treat and speak of that authority.
The Christian’s default setting should be readiness to obey, from a heart of submission and respect, not because the authority is always good and right and trustworthy, but because we entrust ourselves to the God who gave the command and has purposes for us beyond our small comprehension.
3:2:
Paul continues: The believer is “to slander no one.” You may remember from the last chapter that the older women were instructed not to be slanderers, and the Greek word meant “accuser,” as in the Devil himself. Here, the word is “blaspheme.” We’re not to speak evil of others or defame them, especially those in authority. If we have a problem with someone, even those in authority, our responsibility before God is to speak privately, graciously, humbly with them about the error, in hope of fixing the problem (Matthew 18:15-18). We’re not to assume the worst about them and go tell others about it, attacking their reputation.
Rather, we’re required to be peaceable, which means “not contentious or quarrelsome.” We’re to be people who do not stir up trouble or animosity or even talk back, an instruction we saw with slaves. We’re supposed to be people who easily extend grace to everyone, so as to do our part to live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18).
We’re also called to be considerate, which implies a sensitivity to others and their needs or circumstances. We’re to be fair-minded toward others, extending them the benefit of the doubt, patient and understanding in what we think of and how we treat them.
All of these qualities actually fall neatly under the category of “True Humility,” which we’re supposed to show to all people. The Greek here is the concept of meekness, strength under control. We are people beloved by the Lord, honored far beyond anything we deserve in the sacrifice of His beloved Son. We are secure in our salvation and in His love and care for us, especially in His promise of eternal comfort and justice. So we are called to treat others with the same undeserved kindness that we ourselves have received from the Lord.
We can submit ourselves in obedience to anyone in authority, no matter how good or bad, right or wrong, wise or foolish, because there is nothing they could ever do to us to separate us from the love and eternal promises of God. We may lose everything we have here on earth, but if that is the consequence for always doing what is good and right in God’s eyes, then the Lord Himself will restore to us eternally far more than we ever lost in this temporary age.
We can hold our tongue and never speak evil about another person, especially those in authority, even if what we might say is true! Because we want the best for others. We want to protect even our enemies. And if they will not repent, their own evil deeds will be evident to all. I don’t need to be an accuser, even if I’m right. I don’t want that reputation.
Rather, I want to be one who makes peace and brings people together, people who are likewise willing to humble themselves before God. We have no power to bring people to repentance, but we can warn and plead and prove ourselves to be friends and friendly. We can consider them to be better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3), and treat them with gentleness and fairness and patience and understanding. They may yet choose to be our enemies, but we’re called to love them even then.
That is showing true humility toward all men. When we surrender our rights and our lives in submission to Jesus Christ, setting our hope fully on the eternal life and the eternal kingdom He has promised us, then we can live rather for the good and benefit of others. We have nothing left here to defend or guard or fight to protect. We can entrust ourselves to our faithful Creator and do what He asks of us (1 Peter 4:19), without fear of losing out on anything that truly matters, without shrinking back if doing His will should bring suffering into our lives. Our hope is not in and for these lives, but in and for the life to come.
How can we be considerate of those who live in wickedness? How can we treat them as better than ourselves? How can we be kind and respectful and friendly to people who care nothing about us and might even gladly crush us under their feet?
3:3:
Because we used to be just like them. And God showed us mercy and grace when we deserved absolute destruction.
Do you remember when you were foolish and gladly ignorant of God and His ways? Do you remember when you thought Christians were just goody-two-shoes, holier-than-thou hypocrites? When you thought Christians needed to be taken down a notch or ten? Maybe that wasn’t you.
Do you remember when you wanted nothing to do with God or His crazy ways? You thought you knew better. You knew what things were right and wrong, even if God disagreed, and you went ahead and did what you wanted, knowing full well you were in the wrong.
Did you know there was a time when you were deceived? You believed the worst of Satan’s lies, that God was a kill-joy, that God hated you and all His commands were meant to punish you.
Did you realize you were once a slave to your passions and your fleshly pleasures? Did you realize you couldn’t break free? Did you try? Did you succeed? I once replaced all swear words in my vocabulary with nonsense words—for all of about two years. Maybe you whitewashed the malice, the anger, the fight against all sound wisdom. Maybe you quit the rat-race that drove you to “keep up with the Joneses.” Even Solomon “saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor” (Ecclesiastes 4:4). You probably just exchanged one goal of envy for another.
At one time, you too were detestable, hated by others and an object God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). And there were all those people you hated. Anger within and without. Hate those who hate you, and tell all your friends what horrible things they do. Sounds like high school!
These things no longer describes you, correct? If they do still cling to you, still rear their ugly heads, now is the time to deal with them. Go before the Lord, confess whichever of these things still ensnares you. Renounce them. You cannot merely paper over them; you must root them out. Trust in the Lord and humble yourself before those authorities He has placed over you. Stop listening to and believing the lies. You’ll need to read, believe and obey the Scriptures—all of the Bible—so that you can know the truth and identify the lies. Let go of all the things you hope for in this life; “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33); let the motivation of your life be to store up treasure in Heaven and bring God all the glory possible by how you live and relate to others. Forgive whoever needs to be forgiven. Have mercy and compassion on those around you.
All those people around us, that we look down on, hold in contempt, people we cannot honor or respect or speak graciously to or of, people you absolutely cannot submit yourself to for fear of being forced to sin against God—all those people are you, before Christ. All those people need mercy not condemnation. All those people are a chance for you to show that you are truly redeemed, made new and fully trusting in the eternity God has in store for you.
3:4-7:
“When the kindness and love of God our Savior”—that’s grace, folks!—“appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done but because of His mercy.”
Paul just reminded us how disgusting we were before God took it upon Himself to redeem us. Did you see your old self anywhere in verse 3? Or was it someone else? Do you think you were attractive to God before He saved you? You weren’t. Even if you think you were so much better than the people Paul described in the previous verse, you were just as bad as them, if not worse—because you couldn’t see your high opinion of self and not-high-enough opinion of God.
But God saw you and me clearly. He wasn’t fooled, even if we were. We had nothing of value to offer Him, nothing He needed. We were “objects of wrath,” as Paul told the Ephesians (2:3). We infuriated God, continually provoking Him to obliterate us. We had nothing to offer to Him in exchange for our lives.
But He, out of kindness and love and mercy, sent His Son to pay the penalty of death that we owed for our rebellion. We who believe in Jesus as Lord and Christ, as Son of God and righteous payment for sin, who believe in His resurrection, we too share in that death and resurrection. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He made us entirely new, transforming us from those dedicated to our own will into people eager to do His will. We were washed, we were reborn, we were renewed by His Holy Spirit, whom God poured out on us to overflowing.
We are so thoroughly not the people we used to be, before Christ saved us. God Himself fills us and intends for us to walk in a completely new way of life, as He describes and defines and models. All we need to do is trust and submit and follow. Follow His lead, follow His instructions.
Our assurance, our hope is fixed firmly on the life that never ends, which Christ will bring when He returns. Is that what you look for and long for most? Like the ultimate Christmas? That should just barely begin to capture the joy of the hope of eternal life that God has gifted to us, completely apart from anything we have done. Anything we might hope for in this life should fade into dust and ash in light of what God has promised—if we truly understand it.
3:8:
The absolute undeservedness of our salvation and of the inheritance awaiting us, we can trust with certainty. And these things we need to stress. We need to repeat. We need to emphasize. Until it completely changes how we think and see the world around us. Until we become entirely unrecognizable, compared to who we used to be. So that we understand that the only right response to so great a salvation is devotion to doing what God taught in chapter 2 and at the beginning of this chapter, and all through the Scriptures. This has eternal benefit, both for us and for those around us, even unbelievers.
These are the things that should consume our conversation and fellowship: this incredible salvation and how to live in light of it. We must regularly and faithfully meet together in order to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds”—to teach and train and correct, and even rebuke when needed (Hebrews 10:24-25; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
3:9-11:
Sadly, there are those who would like to derail such conversations, who would like to appear wise, but do not want to be examined and corrected. They are not submitted to Jesus Christ, and probably not to any other authority. So they come up with deflecting questions and discussions. They bring up controversies that have no value in teaching us how to live: “Can God make a stone so heavy He cannot lift it?” They’ll debate genealogies and pedigrees, as if who’s who dictates what’s what, in terms of sound doctrine. Such discussions and debates have absolutely no eternal or spiritual benefit.
Some go even further: They want to argue and debate God’s commands and teachings, so as to find justification to cast them aside and free themselves from the duty to obey. They do not love the Lord or understand what He has done for them, so they do not delight to justify the Lord by walking in His ways. These are people who distort Scripture so as to allow women to teach and exercise authority over men, or deny that God considers homosexuality a sin.
As with all sin, the divisive person is to be warned once, twice, then cut off from fellowship if he or she refuses to repent. This follows the pattern of Matthew 18:15-18.
This calls back to the responsibility of elders to silence those who oppose sound doctrine. They are not to be permitted to remain and poison other believers. They ruin whole households! (Titus 1:11)
We don’t have to feel bad about cutting such people off from fellowship; they are the ones who condemn themselves. We can still hope that they might repent, but until they do, we need to steer clear of them. For our own sake and for the sake of others who might see us engaging with them in a friendly manner and be tempted to continue to fellowship with them—only to be drawn away and destroyed along with them!
3:12-15:
Here, Paul turns to personal instructions and greetings, but the Spirit has two more things to teach us.
Artemas and Tychicus are two other of Paul’s faithful disciples and he intends to send one of them to take Titus’ place on Crete, after which he’d like Titus to rejoin him, if at all possible.
Zenas (lawyer referring to him as a teacher of God’s Law) and Apollos are two other faithful servants of Christ. Apollos, like Paul, is an itinerant preacher, traveling here and there both to strengthen believers and to take the Gospel to new places. Zenas, too, appears to be passing through Crete, likely also in service to the Lord. Paul wants the believers in Crete to be considerate of such men and be sure to supply anything they need, as well as help them on their way.
You and I, believers in Jesus, bear the responsibility to support such men—missionaries or evangelists or special speakers. If they are tested and affirmed by faithful believers, then any church to which they come should do all they can to care for their needs while with them, and to see that they have what they need when they move on to the next place. These are people who have left their homes and lands and families and jobs to advance the Kingdom of God and build up existing believers. All Christians should be eager to support them.
It is a question of priorities. What matters most to the believer? Jesus called us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). These are the things that should matter most to us. “Our people,” Christians, should be devoted to doing what is good, things which promote God and His wisdom, things which advance His Kingdom, including helping missionaries, evangelists and itinerant preachers to do their work.
Doing good as God defines it includes providing for your own needs and the needs of your family, but not storing up an excess of goods or wealth for yourself and your family. Daily necessities are things we need to live, to survive. We enjoy so much more than just the basic minimums of life. Internet, cell phones, TVs, cars and trucks, houses and lands, closets full of clothes, shelves full of knick-knacks, rooms and buildings full of stuff we’ll never use—none of these are essential for life or survival. So none of them should consume our time and resources.
Imagine what we could accomplish for God if we cut back our spending on ourselves and redirected it to the mission of God! The Gospel could have been preached to the whole world ten times over in the last hundred years!
When Paul talks about living productive lives, he’s not thinking in terms of Henry Ford’s assembly line, maximizing output to multiply earthly treasure and trinkets. He’s thinking in terms of the Kingdom of God and our life in His presence.
Fat lot of good it’ll do you to live a life of luxury on earth only to have nothing at all to show for your life in the kingdom of God!
Believers in Jesus Christ, who understand the incalculable inheritance we’ve been promised, don’t give maximum effort to collect the things of this world, and minimum effort to store up eternal reward! We do the reverse! Maximum effort to know God, walk in His ways and advance His kingdom; as minimum an effort as possible to provide for our own needs. Do what must be done to meet our basic needs, and devote the rest of our time, effort and wealth to serve and empower the advancement of the Gospel and the glory of God.
Think of the time and effort spent in training, the investment in equipment, the long days and short nights, the years spent building a career in a field that has no eternal significance. What if all that time and energy and funds had been spent on training and labor for the Kingdom of God?
You start your own business and build it into a Fortune 100 company, the envy of all the world! To what end?
Jesus told a parable to teach us that our lives do not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12:15-21):
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
As Jesus elsewhere asks, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36) How much better to spend all that we have and all that we are on labors that follow us into the presence of God! That’s a productive life! That’s a life worth living!
Conclusion:
God has called us to live a life of true humility toward all people, to treat them with kindness and graciousness, as better than ourselves, because we know what it is like to be lost, to be enslaved to sin, to have no ability to break free and to have no one looking out for you but yourself. It makes for very bitter, pain-filled lives that drive you to medicate with fleshly pleasures and passions. We, however, have been set free from godlessness and have the hope of life forever beyond the grave! We’re not to debate which of God’s commands to obey, but to encourage one another to grow in all of them. We are made new to be people who care far more for eternal things (souls and the obedience of faith that glorifies God) than for the meaningless trinkets of this world. To the Christian, there is nothing more important than that lost souls hear of God’s grace in Christ, and are transformed in life and purpose to put the proclamation of the Gospel and growth in Christlikeness above all else.