One of the responsibilities I have during the month of October is to lead our church in worship each Sunday. Our small church has a retired minister as our stated supply (Presbyterian term) who takes a sabbatical during October (a well deserved one I might add.) A few years ago he asked if I would speak in his absence and the rest, as they say, is history. I am going to attempt to post my sermons for this month here on this blog.
Disclaimer: What I am going to post is going to be a rough attempt at a transcript of what I actually say. Now I am creating this transcript before I speak so it isn't really a word for word transcript. Also, when I write a paper I try to use sentence structure and vocabulary and all those things you learned about in school correctly. I do try and speak professionally as well but my point is don’t grade this as a writing, but as a speech. Even then I hope you get the point of the message and don’t get caught up in the grammatical issues. Feel free to comment.
Good
Citizens
Titus
3:1-8
October
28, 2012
Read
Scripture:
3 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be
obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid
quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. 3 For we
ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various
passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating
one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour
appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had
done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by
the Holy Spirit. 6This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8The saying is sure. I desire that
you insist on these things, so that those who have come to believe in God may
be careful to devote themselves to good works; these things are excellent and
profitable to everyone.
Background
Let
me begin once again with some background information. Titus is a book in the
New Testament right after Paul’s letters to Timothy. This too is actually a
letter written to Titus by Paul around 66 AD. It is known as one of the
Pastoral Epistles and was written to encourage Titus as he was left behind in
Crete to lead one of the churches Paul had started. As you know, Paul traveled
all over the Greek speaking world spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and
establishing churches along the way. He then often wrote letters to those
churches or other companions of his answering questions, alleviating concerns or
to encourage them as they struggled with doubts or confusion created by what he
called false teachers. The beginning of the letter is instructing Titus in what
the qualifications are for leaders in the church. Also, in addition to listing
the qualities leaders should have Paul warns Titus to guard against those false
teachers. Specifically, the ones who continued to insist on the Jewish path to
salvation which required certain works. For instance, their insistence that
circumcision and adherence to rituals and ceremonies of the Mosaic Law were
required for salvation went against Paul’s preaching. Paul had always preached
salvation through faith so the stipulation that Christians should follow Jewish
rituals goes against his message. He often said that anyone who preaches a path
to salvation other than faith in Jesus is nothing but a false teacher and
should be ignored.
How
we are to act?
Our
passage this morning addresses what the people should be doing with respect to
civil authorities. Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3 explain how and then Paul
explains why. He begins by telling Titus to remind the people of Crete to be
subject to the rulers and authorities, to be obedient, and to be ready for
every good work. The fact that he says remind them implies that he, Paul, has
already instructed them to act this way. As William Barclay points out, “Here
there is laid down the public duty of the Christian; and it is advice that was
particularly relevant to the people of Crete. The Cretans were notoriously
turbulent and quarrelsome and impatient of all authority.” These people would
have had many occasions to be disgruntled with the ruling authorities of the
time, the Roman Empire. Yet Paul expects them to respect the rulers that have
been placed over them. In other places in God’s Word we read that even rulers
who go against God’s will were nonetheless placed in positions of power by an
all knowing God. Because of that we should be obedient to those rulers. In
Jeremiah 29 verses 4-7 we hear of similar instructions from God to the people
who are being driven into exile. “4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I
have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in
them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and
daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that
they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But
seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare
you will find your welfare.” The exiles are instructed to do their part in
making this foreign land profitable, to integrate with this society that they
don’t want to be apart of. He is not calling on them to isolate themselves from
the other sinful Babylonians or their leaders. In this case He is letting them
know they will be there awhile and in order for them to increase as a people
they will need to associate with their captors and work together with them to
make the city thrive. There are limits to their obedience, however. From the
book of Daniel we know Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were loyal to Nebuchadnezzar until his decrees required them to worship someone
other than God. Even during those episodes they were not quarrelsome as Paul
instructs us to avoid, they just simply refused to worship something other than
God. They were willing to follow rules, pay taxes, obey laws whether they like
them or not, until they infringed on their moral responsibility. Paul in
instructing Titus to encourage the Cretans in the same manner. And even now we,
too, are called to subject ourselves to ruling authorities. In our country we
are given the opportunity to choose those leaders but our guy or gal doesn’t
always win. There is no Biblical authority that says we only have to follow the
laws we agree with. We can, if so led, try to bring change to those things we
feel are wrong, but we are told to “speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling,
to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone.” (Titus 3:2) Just being a loud-mouthed objector to any and
everything that a leader is doing is not the Biblical approach. Jesus himself
instructed his followers to “...Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17) It takes effort to be
obedient when we disagree with authority. Yet, that is exactly what we are
called to do.
Why
we are to act that way? Because as Paul says in verse 3, “For we ourselves were
once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and
pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one
another.” It was then that God’s mercy and kindness appeared in the form of a
Savior. And it wasn’t because of any good works that we had done, but because
of His mercy.
THE
LION AND THE DOG
D.L.
Moody once saw a man beat his dog at a zoo because he was mad at him. He had
made a bet and boasted about him being so obedient and when he tried to get the
dog to so something he wanted, it wouldn’t do it and he lost his bet. He got so
mad at that dog and just beat him and beat him and beat him mercilessly.
Finally,
after he was wounded and bleeding and whimpering, he threw him in the lion's
cage so that the lion would eat him. And that poor whimpering, beaten, pitiful
dog, standing shaking on his legs was in the presence of that great lion. And
that lion came over to that dog and sniffed him and then he began to lick that
little dog and the dog laid down and the lion laid down there just keeping him
warm and licking his wounds. And the man, after a little while felt sorry for
the dog and told the man to let him have his dog back. And the person in charge
of the lion cage who had seen him beat that dog said, "Fine, you can have
your dog back. But you're going to have to go in there and get him
yourself!"
And
that's the way it is with me and you – we were…by sins and sin, beaten,
bruised, battered, and unacceptable in God’s sight and worthy of being devoured
and condemned, but instead the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus, has taken us
in and has healed our wounds and now protects us from the enemy that once
enslaved us! (From a sermon by Ricky Nelms, The Power To Become, 7/22/2010)
How
Should We Then Live?
Francis
Schaeffer (one of great Christian thinkers of the last century) wrote about
living out the Christian faith in a morally failing world. In his aptly titled
book, How Should We Then Live?, Schaeffer seeks answers to questions like,
“What is the relation between a Christian and the culture?” I think this
question should grip every Christian: “Now that God has converted us, how
should we then live?”
One
answer, Pietism, proposes that we retreat from the world and keep religion to
ourselves – faith should be personal and private, without worldly effect or
influence. The opposite idea, “triumphalism,” wants Christian truth forced on
others: the faith should change the world without regard to the preferences of
people or even whether it has properly impacted us. Instead of either of those,
the Bible says that the kingdom of God is within, while its influence radiates
out. Its rule advances by the grace of the gospel as it changes hearts and
lives.
As a
result, the true Christian makes a difference in the lives of others through
the difference God has made in our lives. Jesus calls it salt and light –
preserving, flavoring, blessing, influencing. We make a difference in the world
when we are the people we should be – so transformed by the grace of God that
we are an aroma of life to those whom God is saving. (Once Saved Always
Changed, Sermon by Glenn Durham)
We
are not called to cram the gospel of Jesus Christ down everyone’s throat
without respect to their current beliefs or feelings. Rather we are to let the
love of Christ radiate outward from within our own being so those around us are
transformed by the Holy Spirit. Our actions speak louder than our words. When
others witness us acting with love and compassion toward others, especially to
those with which we disagree, they are witnessing the love and compassion of
Christ. When they see us quarrel with others, bicker over every little thing,
the love of Christ is obscured and an opportunity passed.
Paul
continues in his letter to Titus that he insist on these things because when
Christians devote themselves to good works it is profitable for everyone. The
good works are not what saves us, it is our response to the mercy of God. Our
good works reflect our appreciation for what Christ did for us.
There
is a magnificent story in Marie Chapian’s book Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy. The book told of the sufferings
of the true church in Yugoslavia where so much wrong has been perpetrated by
the politicized ecclesiastical hierarchy. That which has gone on in the name of
Christ for the enriching and empowering of corrupt church officials has been a
terrible affront to decency.
One
day an evangelist by the name of Jakov arrived in a certain village. He
commiserated with an elderly man named Cimmerman on the tragedies he had
experienced and talked to him of the love of Christ. Cimmerman abruptly
interrupted Jakov and told him that he wished to have nothing to do with
Christianity. He reminded Jakov of the dreadful history of the church in his
town, a history replete with plundering, exploiting, and indeed with killing
innocent people. “My own nephew was killed by them,” he said and angrily
rebuffed any effort on Jakov’s part to talk about Christ. “They wear those
elaborate coats and caps and crosses,” he said, “signifying a heavenly
commission, but their evil designs and lives I cannot ignore.”
Jakov,
looking for an occasion to get Cimmerman to change his line of thinking, said,
“Cimmerman, can I ask you a question? Suppose I were to steal your coat, put it
on, and break into a bank. Suppose further that the police sighted me running
in the distance but could not catch up with me. One clue, however, put them onto
your track; they recognized your coat. What would you say to them if they came
to your house and accused you of breaking into the bank?”
“I
would deny it,” said Cimmerman.
“‘Ah,
but we saw your coat,’ they would say,” retorted Jakov. This analogy quite
annoyed Cimmerman, who ordered Jakov to leave his home.
Jakov
continued to return to the village periodically just to befriend Cimmerman,
encourage him, and share the love of Christ, with him. Finally one day
Cimmerman asked, “How does one become a Christian?” and Jakov taught him the
simple steps of repentance for sin and of trust in the work of Jesus Christ and
gently pointed him to the Shepherd of his soul. Cimmerman bent his knee on the
soil with his head bowed and surrendered his life to Christ. As he rose to his
feet, wiping his tears, he embraced Jakov and said, “Thank you for being in my
life.” And then he pointed to the heavens and whispered, “You wear His coat
very well.” (Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God? (Word Publishers,
Dallas: 1994), 101-102)
These
verses, chapter 3:1-8 have dealt with the believer’s testimony in the world, a
world that is divided politically, economically, religiously, culturally,
racially, and domestically. In this fragmented world, God has called us to
manifest His love through the gift of His Son in a way that not only brings
people to a saving knowledge of Christ, but that demonstrates the power of the
cross to bring people together in loving relationships. In his book, Why the Cross Can Do What Politics Can’t,
Erwin Lutzer has a chapter that points to the cross as a power for
reconciliation. His comments in a couple of paragraphs form a fitting close to
the believer’s responsibility to manifest the power of the cross as God’s means
of not only reconciliation with Him, but of reconciliation with one another.
In
such a world, many relationships are either brief, high-intensity encounters
which quickly burn themselves out, or casual interactions that do not fill the
human desire for love and a lasting connection. Americans are, for the most
part, a lonely lot, seeking to fill the void with the latest gadgets or
entertainment venues. Deep relationships characterized by loyalty and
commitment are few in number and little is done to encourage them. Thus our
desires are unmet, and as a nation we keep turning to those solutions that only
inflame greater unmet desires.
To
where do we turn?
The
church is called to model wholesome, caring relationships in a culture that no
longer believes that such friendships are possible. Our calling is to eschew
that part of our culture that is fueled by a radical individualism that
selfishly seeks one’s own “good” at the expense of one’s neighbor. We have to
prove that deep and loyal friendships can exist among those who otherwise have
racial, cultural, and economic differences. In other words, we are to model
oneness for which Christ prayed. It is at this very point that we should be
most unlike the world.
(Erwin
W. Lutzer, Why the Cross Can Do What
Politics Can’t (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 1999), 119.)
It’s
not hard to find someone on TV or radio that wants to stir up trouble in local,
state, or national politics. God calls us to be good citizens. Sometimes that
does require action on our part but when it does, we are still called to show
the love of Christ even in situations where that is hard to do. Responding to
those we disagree with in a quarrelsome manner and with malice, is not how God
has responded to us, even in our sinful nature. It is imperative that we
remember that and follow the advice of Paul and let the love of Christ radiate
outward from within our hearts.
Let
us Pray
