Our Interaction With The World (Titus 3)
Our lives are to be a testimony to God’s grace. As God’s people, our actions and our speech is to testify to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Remember, this is a short letter to Titus concerning the churches on the island of Crete. In this place where the people are characterized as having rather poor character, the behavior of the Christians was to be different.
“One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.” (Titus 1:12-14 ESV)
Apparently this stereotype was true. But the Christians were not to be this way.
It seems that the difference between them and the Cretans was, in large part, to testify to the greatness of Christianity.
As we saw last week, older women were to teach younger women to behave as they ought so that “the Word of God would not be reviled”.
“Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.” (Titus 2:2-6 ESV)
The character of God’s people will have a positive or negative affect on their testimony.
We testify to the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. And our actions are to testify to the truth of what we preach.
As we’ve seen, the pastor’s preaching, teaching, and life are to affect the church’s home. God has given him the Word to preach and teach. And it is to change the lives of the congregation. Now the congregation is to go and meet the world.
How are we to interact with the world?
Do Good To Others
The first thing that Paul says we are supposed to do is be a good citizen (Titus 3:1). We are to be submissive to rulers and authorities. As Americans, our ability to do good as citizen reached levels that most in history cannot imagine.
The reason I say this is that, not only are we to be obedient to our governing authorities, but as Americans we have a say in how our country is run. So, we are not to be rebellious people. We are to be law-abiding citizens. But we should also care about how our country is run. We have a say in that. So, we should be good citizens and pay attention to how our government is being run.
Be a good citizen. Be obedient to governing authorities. Don’t be the rebellious sort of American. Don’t break the law and going to prison. Be obedient.
But don’t just be a good citizen. Be ready for every good work. Whereas being obedient is about not breaking the law, this is about doing positive good for others. As Christians, we don’t just want to be people that live next door. We want to be the best sort of people that live next door. We want to be the person that does good for the people in the neighborhood. This is about living a life of charity toward others.
In today’s vernacular, I would say that Paul goes on from here to just describe what it means to be a good neighbor. He says “speak evil of no one…avoid quarrelling…be gentle…show perfect courtesy toward all people.” (Titus 3:2 ESV) And if you really think about it, this is about being a good neighbor.
Listen, these commands are not outrageous. These are simple commands. Don’t talk bad about others. Don’t pick fights with other people. Be gentle and courteous. Be a good neighbor.
You don’t need to be the neighbor that no one wants to talk to. You need to be the neighbor that people are comfortable waving to and don’t mind talking with you in the front yard. You don’t need to be the guy that everyone despises. You need to be the neighbor that everyone things is a good family.
If the old lady that lives next door needs help with something, you would be the person they would talk to.
If the person next door had a flat tire, you might walk down the street to air it up.
If the person next door lost their dog, the neighbors might talk with you about this issue.
This is about being a good person with your neighbors.
Paul doesn’t end with just this command. He ends the letter by telling Titus to have the people of Crete practice their kindness on Zenas and Apollos who are going to need help when they get to town (Titus 3:13-14). He wants to make sure that the people of God are acting with love and kindness to those in need.
The Book of Titus has a rather obvious outline. God saved His people by His grace and mercy through the finished work of Jesus Christ. And God gives to His church pastors whose preaching, teaching, and life are to bring people to faith in Christ and teach them how to walk in righteousness.
This preaching and teaching is to influence the homes within the church. The homes are to be righteous. And this righteousness is to be exhibited within your home. The members of this church are to walk in righteousness.
And now we see how we are to behave toward the world. We are to be good citizens and good neighbors, walking in kindness and mercy toward the outside world.
This was part of the impetus behind the Food Pantry. We wanted to be good neighbors that would do good to those in need that are around us. But this should also extend to how we behave in our day to day lives.
You and I should walk with mercy and compassion toward those that are around us. I have repeatedly gone through this idea. We are God’s people. We are the people that God has redeemed. He has saved us out of the world. But there are people all around us still enslaved to sin and death.
And we should be the people that they look to as models of righteousness. We should be helping them. We should be giving good advice. Be a good neighbor.
But this does require us to have a good attitude toward those that are around us.
It is easy to not have a good attitude toward those that we should be helping. It’s easy to look at their life choices and think that they are not worth our time. It’s easy to start thinking highly about ourselves and so little of them that we don’t want to help them.
But Paul immediately corrects this attitude.
We should have compassion for those in sin because we were once in their situation. We were sinners too. And had the grace of God not redeemed us, our lot would likely be like theirs.
Have Compassion For Others For You Were Once A Sinner Too
I have wanted to preach through the Book of Titus, keeping the author’s intention behind the letter in mind. I am wanting to present these truths to you in a way that keeps the intent of the letter in the forefront of the mind. The descriptions of our salvation found in Titus are wonderful. And they can be pulled apart and discussed in great detail. We could probably spend a few more weeks in Titus just thinking about the way that Paul describes our justification. But that is not exactly what Paul is doing here.
Paul is describing our condition before Christ in order to strike the Cretans, and us, with a better understanding of their similarity with the sinful people of Crete.
You see, the temptation is to look down on other people. You look at the person acting like a fool in the middle of Walmart or out on the street somewhere and you are tempted to look at them with disdain. And in some ways, you should. Their behavior is disdainful. But it is right there that the person is not so different from you. You are not as different from them as you imagine yourself being.
“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.” (Titus 3:3 ESV)
The Scriptures nowhere teach us that our heart was more healthy than our neighbors. In the Scriptures we see time and time again that the Lord saved us from that. We see that if not for the Lord, we would be doing something similar.
For instance, we can look at Romans 3 and see that the Jewish people had every advantage. God’s Word and God’s promises were given to them. Yet, they were not any better off with regard to their sinful hearts.
“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:9-20 ESV)
Now, if this is the case for the Jews and Gentiles, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that you were no better off than others before you became a Christian. Before you became a Christian, your heart was just as wicked as anyone else’s.
If Christ had not redeemed you, as was discussed last week, where would you be?
What would you be doing?
Would you have wound up not caring as much about finding a husband and living for yourself all the days of your life like so many people seem to do today?
Would you have decided that a lot of drugs and alcohol are better what you want to do with your life?
Would you have decided that living in front of screens is all that you wanted to do with your life?
Would you have decided that dying your hair pink and firebombing a Tesla dealership was your life’s great purpose?
Would you have become an Atheist and live out your days in quiet hatred of Christianity as so many Atheists seem to do today?
Would you have just lived without the purpose and meaning that is given to us in Christ?
The fact that Paul is pointing out is that we are all sinful to our core. We don’t have an advantage over other people. You are just as sinful and rebellious as that person that you don’t want to help and don’t want to talk to and share the gospel with.
Apart from Christ, you would be just as lost and hopeless as they are. And that is the point Paul is making. You should have compassion for that person because you shared a similar fate had you not been redeemed.
Have Compassion For Others For You Were Saved By Grace
Paul takes this idea one step further and reminds Titus to teach the people that they should reach out in love and kindness to the lost and rebellious because they were saved by grace. Well, why does this matter?
It matters because God saves Christians, not based on their own personal goodness, but as a pure act of grace and mercy. That’s why it matters.
The temptation is to look down on others. But you must remember that the only reason you are different is God’s grace and mercy.
“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, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7 ESV)
Here is the point. We were saved, not because of any of our works. We were not saved because of any righteous that is found in us. We were saved by God’s mercy.
If it had been up to you then you would still be lost. But because it was an act of God’s mercy you have been redeemed.
Paul then describes what God did for us. As he has already said, we are sinners. We rebelled against God and we earned His wrath and justice. But God had mercy on us and regenerated us.
Regeneration literally means “new birth”. This is another way of saying that God made us new creatures. And you probably remember that Paul said just that in 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
Paul has already told us that we were redeemed, purchased out of the world by the finished work of Christ. Now he tells us that we have been born again. We are a new creation. And he tells us that it is not something that we did on our own. It was something that God did to us.
God redeemed us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And through the work of the Holy Spirit, God has made us new. Your salvation is the work of the Triune God and not you. You didn’t do that. You couldn’t do that. And the reason you are not a horrid sinner yourself is because God redeemed you, regenerated you, and is forming you into the image of His Son.
Your personal righteousness, those good deeds that you do and are supposed to be doing, is to the credit of the Lord. He is at work in you. The one who has made you an heir and has given to you eternal life is forming you into the image of His Son. Therefore, you should interact with compassion to those around you.
The point is obvious here. It is not by your work that you are different than the world. It is by the grace and mercy of God.
You are different than the sinner that you don’t want to associate with. You really are. That is no lie. But it is not because of anything you did. It is completely because of what Christ has done.
Paul says this so that you will go and do good to others. He says this so that we will be people who spend time declaring the gospel and doing good for those in need.
What right do we have to keep our mouths closed and avoid these people?
I’m not saying that you should put yourself in danger, but when someone is in need you should be willing to help.
Don’t Let Your Compassion Sully The Church (Titus 3:9-11)
I find it interesting that Paul connected our personal compassion with our church’s holiness. If you are reading the Greek text, you will notice a conjunction holds the two ideas together. The context is what helps us to understand what that conjunction is. It is the word “δὲ”, and depending on the context it can mean “but”. But it can also mean “and”. When it is used in this manner, we understand that the ideas are connected, but there is some sort of opposition being given here.
I hope this helps you to see what Paul is doing. These two ideas are connected. You are to be a good neighbor. You are to have compassion on the lost and rebellious people around you.
But you are not to allow their rebelliousness to bring impurity into the church.
Paul then told Titus to “avoid foolish controversies” (Titus 3:9 ESV). How many of those do you think we could get involved in today? If I were to begin thinking through the many foolish controversies of our day, this sermon would never finish. But the point is that we are not to get involved in them.
I’m not supposed to get riled up at every silly thing a politician says. I don’t need to get in the middle of all that. And I don’t need to blast it all over Social Media every time something like that comes up. I am to be a good citizen. There will be times that I need to speak up. There are some things that I should care deeply about. But most of the time, I am going to need to avoid foolish controversies.
And Paul’s thought was mostly on Christian teaching. We are to avoid foolish controversies within the church.
I was once in a church service and approached a visitor that informed me that I didn’t really understand the Bible unless I understood what the Bible taught about Aliens. These are people that wanted to have a dispute about foolish controversies. I chuckled, because I had some friends that believed the same thing when I was around 19 years old. I knew they were nuts too. And I didn’t engage in that conversation. I wanted to avoid the foolish controversy.
I am commanded to be compassionate. But I am also commanded to not let my compassion steer me into allowing that sort of foolish controversy to get a footing with the church.
And then Paul steps into what we are supposed to do if a person is stirring up division. This would be a person that is attempting to teach something outside of Scripture within the Church. He says to kick the person out after warning them a few times (Titus 3:10). And the reason for this is that “such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:11).
I was once concerned about things an older man was saying about Hell and our salvation. He was a respected man in the church, and he was thought to be rather intelligent. He invited me to breakfast one day and expressed views of God’s grace, Hell, and our salvation that were obviously outside of Scripture and anything close to orthodox beliefs. I expressed concerns over these things at the breakfast.
I talked with the pastor about it. And he sort of shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, “what are you gonna do?”. So I discussed the possibility of talking with him myself. He thought that was a good idea and unleashed me on the man.
I sat down and wrote a response, which is something that I have done a few times in these situations. And then we had another breakfast where I expressed these concerns and then gave him my response in writing so he could look at it later.
Do you know what he did? Nothing. He made no changes. He thought I was a fool. And he left the church.
And in my mid-20’s I was completely okay with that because my compassion for people is not to ruin the purity of the church. False views of Jesus and His gospel are to be nowhere near this place. We are to preach and teach God’s Word. And we are to be formed by the Scriptures, not this world.
I have had situations like this come up a few times. And I must always understand in those moments that the purity of the church is to be held alongside compassion. I am not to allow the ways of the world to defile the church.
If a person were to come into this church and begin teaching something opposed to God’s Word, I would be obligated to oppose it. And if after they have been warned a few times, they still decide to oppose it, then we would be obligated to treat them like a tax collector and a sinner.
If a person were to come into this church and be divisive and angry. They would need to be warned. And if they did not repent, they would need to be kicked out of the church.
The purity of Christ’s bride is too important. And our witness to the world is too important.
Here is where many of the denominations have gone astray. Their compassion for people has caused them to lay aside righteousness.
You may wonder how a Christian goes from seeing that fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and transgenderism are plainly sinful to waving a rainbow flag. I can tell you how that happens. The compassion for people and their stories usurps what God teaches in His Word about righteousness.
Talk to rainbow flag wearing pastors and ask them why they changed their mind about what the Bible teaches. Do you know what you’ll hear them say? They will tell you about a friend or family member that was homosexual. And then they did a word study and found out that maybe the text could possibly be ambiguous. But it’s not ambiguous at all. It’s amazing what you can find in the Bible that is not really in the Bible, when you really, really want the Bible to say something. Or, it is even likelier that they didn’t care what the Bible said and just decided that they would believe in a “god” that was not like that.
But you don’t reach out to the world by becoming like the world. You don’t invite foolish controversies into the church and expect to influence the world.
You don’t become angry and divisive and expect to bring the world to Christ.
You don’t change the teaching of the church to be like the world and expect to bring the world to Christ.
We are to be righteous and maintain purity.
We don’t bring the world to Christ by becoming like the world.
There should be something different about us. They shouldn’t be able to turn on Fox News or CNN and hear everything that we would be about. It is just not how things are supposed to be.
It should not be the case that politicians are our spokespeople.
The people that are highly esteemed in politics today are divisive, adulterers, and fornicators. Just week I saw a man criticize the morality of a man that has 14 kids with 4 women. That’s fine. It is horribly sinful. But the man that criticized probably fornicated with a Chinese spy a few years back. And he doesn’t see the inconsistency in his behavior.
These should not be our models. Their character should not influence our behavior. That is the world.
We don’t fight with each other and show favoritism. We don’t attempt to destroy one another.
And we don’t allow that kind of behavior and divisiveness to dwell among us.
God has given to us His Word. He has told us how we are to order ourselves, what we are to preach and teach, how we are to behave. And we are not to allow people to break that. We are not to allow people that stir up controversies and division to continue doing that.
The purity of the Church is worth the fight. And it is a pure church that exhibits the message of the gospel that is preached.
And we are to fight for the purity of God’s Church.
Conclusion
We are to be the best of citizens and neighbors. We are to do good to those that are around us. And this glorious salvation of ours should cause us to treat them with compassion.
But we are always to walk in righteousness. Christ redeemed us, not so that we could be like the world. But so that we would walk in righteousness. We are now a people for His own possession, zealous for good works.
Last week I said that “we come just as we are, but the Lord does not leave us just as we were”. And that really is the point. If we understand that point then understand this completely. And it is this that the outside world should see.
They should see that we are different. And they should see a people that deeply desire to include them.
And by doing so, we adorn the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with good works.
R. Dwain Minor