Wednesday, April 3, 2019

The Apostle Paul's Letter To Titus. Day 3, The Blessed Hope

Paul gives Titus advice for instructing the church members, then he reminds him that all believers should be looking forward to the same thing---the appearing of Jesus Christ. Because we all have this hope, we should be working together as brothers and sisters for the sake of the gospel. We are part of the same family and there should be unity among believers.

The advice Paul gives Titus will sound similar to the advice he gave Timothy, and for good reason, because it's sound advice and should be followed. He begins first with how Titus is to interact with the older men in the church. "You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance." (Titus 2:1-2) The character of the older men should set an example for younger members of the church.

The older women should also be good examples. "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good." (Titus 2:3) These older women ought to be so well-grounded in the faith that they can take the younger women under their wing, as we will see in verses 4 and 5.

"Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." (Titus 2:4-5) If we who are Christians are living in ungodly ways, unbelievers around us are going to notice it and "malign the word of God". They will say, "Look at those hypocrites! Those Christians are always talking about love but the way they treat others doesn't show much love. Those Christians talk about being self-controlled, yet some of them have addiction problems or are unfaithful to their spouses. Those Christians say that greed is a bad thing, but some of the most dishonest people I know are Christians." Paul is telling Titus to tell the church not to engage in behavior that gives unbelievers the opportunity to scoff at the power of the word of God or to laugh at the name of Christ. If we keep our noses clean, so to speak, and if we go about our business as we should, the unbelieving world won't be able to find anything in our behavior that they can use to ridicule Christ. He's already suffered enough for us, hasn't He? The last thing we should want is to do something that would allow anyone to malign His name because of us.

Titus, who is still a young man himself, needs to set an example for the young men of the church to follow. "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. Show your integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." (Titus 2:6-8) Paul is saying something like, "All of you should live such respectable lives that the only way unbelievers can say anything bad about you is if they make it up. Then they will be ashamed when their lies about you are exposed."

Next we move on to the subject of how believing slaves should behave. Slavery in ancient Rome was generally not the type of slavery we once had here in America, for slaves in Rome had the freedom to use their spare time as they pleased. They could even work a second job and buy their own homes and land or even save up enough money to buy their freedom. Because they could do what they wanted while not on the job, a lot of them came to hear the apostles and teachers, and many of them came to faith in Christ. They aren't to allow this to make them look down on their masters, who may still be pagans. They still owe their masters the respect that is due them. "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." (Titus 2:9-10) These slaves have an opportunity to influence their masters for Christ. If their behavior is not proper and respectful, their masters aren't going to be impressed by anything they say about Christ.

Now Paul moves on to some beautiful words about our Lord Jesus Christ and about the hope we have in Him. We are to live in a way that honors Him because He gave His life for all people. If we Christians don't live in a way that honors Him, we won't be able to lead others to Him. "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope---the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are for His very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:11-14) We owe Him an attitude of eagerness to do good! He bought us back from the dead with His own blood through the cross; the very least we can do is to live respectable lives so that we give no one an opportunity to mock His precious name.

Titus is a minister, called by God and ordained by the church, and therefore he has the God-given authority to instruct all the members of the church, whether young or old. "These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you." (Titus 2:15) We are to respect our pastors, even if are younger than we are. They are God's man in the church, called by Him to lead the flock, and when we disrespect them we are disrespecting God. As God said to the prophet Samuel when the people would not listen to him, "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me." (1 Samuel 8:7) If you have a pastor who is doing what a pastor ought to do, and who is teaching the word of God as it should be taught, then rejecting his instructions means you are rejecting God's instructions.

The family of Christ should be unified, working together in love, helping each other to live godly lives. We all have the same hope, and if we fix our minds on this hope, we will do a much better job of honoring our Lord and Savior with our lives and with the way we interact with each other.

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