Healthy Doctrine Leads to Healthy Life
Paul’s primary concern in this letter is to say that right doctrine leads to right behavior. He says in 1:1 that he’s an apostle “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge in the truth, which accords with godliness.” A true knowledge of Christ will lead to Christlikeness.
Chapter 2 begins a section (2:1-3:8) where Paul describes what Christian living should look like. This section is made up of two parallel units, 2:1-15 and 3:1-8. Each section describes right Christian behavior (2:1-10, 3:1-2), roots this behavior in the gospel (2:11-14, 3:3-7), and then closes with a charge to Titus to teach these things with authority (2:15, 3:8).
Titus 3
Chapter three can be broken into four sections. In verses 1-2, Paul gives Titus several more ways that the churches on the island of Crete should live in order to “adorn” the gospel. In verses 3-7, Paul roots these behaviors in the gospel. In verses 8-11, he comes back to his main idea that God’s work in Christ has direct implications for how we live. Then in verses 12-15, we learn that God uses relationships to advance the gospel and build up the church.
Perhaps we could say that, in Titus 3, we see more adorning (vv. 1-2), more gospel (vv. 3-7), more instructions (vv. 8-11), and more mission (vv. 12-15).
More Adorning
In verses 1-2, Paul tells Titus to remind the churches to adorn the gospel in two further ways, one social and one personal. In verse 1, he says that the churches need to be “submissive” and “obedient” to “rulers and authorities.” This echoes what he says in Romans 13:1, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Christians are to keep their lives in line with the governments over them. American evangelicals need to hear these words carefully. Our public witness was damaged when people waving Christian flags and carrying crosses and holding Bibles stormed the U. S. capitol in January. That any Christ follower would join an insurrection built on lies and misinformation is an egregious error because it shows the world that we care more about the kingdom of man than the kingdom of God.
This doesn’t mean there’s never a time to disobey a government. Just as a wife shouldn’t submit to a husband who’s leading her into sin, so also a Christian shouldn’t submit to a government who’s leading them into sin. Sometimes its necessary to go against earthly authorities in order to obey God’s will, such as when the Hebrew midwives “feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do” (Ex. 1:17), or when Moses defied Pharaoh (Ex. 7-12), or when Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 3), or when Daniel refused to stop praying (Dan. 6), or when Peter and John kept preaching after being told to stop (Acts 4:18-20). We remember Bonhoeffer opposing the Nazis, Corrie Ten Boom hiding Jews from the Nazis, Christians who defied racial segregation laws during the 1960s, and the thousands of Christian martyrs who refuse to renounce their faith and pay with their lives.
There’s a time to disobey government in order to obey God. But Paul says that, ordinarily, Christians should be exemplary subjects to the state.
In verse 2, Paul moves from the Christian’s social to their personal ethic. He says not to do two things and to do two things. Christians shouldn’t slander or quarrel. They should be gentle and courteous. It’s good to know that personal outrage isn’t new. People were saying mean things to each other long before Twitter. Paul’s point here, just as it was in 2:11-12, is that a transformed heart leads to a transformed tongue. Christians aren’t convinced that they’re right all the time about everything. They assume the best about people, not the worst. They speak truth in love.
More Gospel
In verses 3-7, Paul once again roots these behaviors in the gospel. These are some of the most rich and beautiful verses in the New Testament. These verses show us what happens when someone becomes a Christian.
Verse 3 tells us who we were before we were saved. Verses 4-7 tells us what happened when God saved us. Notice that verse 3 is the basis for why we should do verses 1-2 (“for”). Our present lives should bear a contrast to our past lives. Becoming a Christian, by definition, means undergoing a life-change.
The good news is that our past doesn’t define us, or hinder God from changing us. He loves fixing broken things. He loves healing the sick, rescuing the lost, adopting the orphan, saving sinners, comforting those who mourn, giving strength to the weak, and bringing the dead to life. We may’ve been immoral dead people or moral dead people. Either way, before Christ we’re dead in sin and need resurrection.
Verse 3 may remind us who we were. But it’s not the end of the story for those who’re in Christ. Verses 4-7 go on to tell us what God did, why he did it, how he did it, and the result of it.
What did God do? Verses 4-5a, “When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us.” Because of his goodness and love, God saved us.
God’s “appearing” is called the incarnation. God put on human flesh and lived among us (Jn. 1:1-3, 14). Listen to how Dane Ortlund describes this in Gentle and Lowly, “The richness of divine mercy becomes real to us not only when we see how depraved we naturally are, but also when we see that the river of mercy flowing out of God’s heart took shape as a man. Perhaps the notion of heavenly mercy seems abstract; but what if that mercy became something we could see, hear, and touch?” Referencing Titus 2:11, Ortlund concludes, “The grace and mercy of God is so bound up with and manifested in Jesus himself that to speak of Christ appearing is to speak of grace appearing.” Or as the great Puritan Richard Sibbes says, “Christ is nothing but pure grace clothed with our nature.”
The very fact that God “appeared” reveals his love because of how we’re described in verse 3. God didn’t have to come to earth to save anyone. He was under no moral obligation to do so, but in order to reveal the glory of his goodness and love, he “appeared” to save sinners like us.
God saved us when he sent Jesus to live the life we could never live, die on the cross for our sins, be buried and rise again on the third day. Everyone who puts their trust in what God has done in Jesus and turns from their sins will be saved.
In a sense, those who trust Christ were saved 2,000 years ago when Jesus “appeared.” The salvation of God’s people was secured, even if not yet applied, when Jesus died and rose again. This means that we don’t have to worry too much about remembering the exact moment when we were saved. Some remember this, many don’t. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that we must remember exactly when we became a Christian. We can know we’re saved if we’re hoping and trusting and resting in the finished work of Jesus today.
God saved us when Jesus appeared. Why did he do this? Verse 5b, “Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.” We didn’t earn salvation; God gave it out of mercy. God wouldn’t have needed to send Jesus to save us if we could save ourselves.
This means that our works contribute nothing to our salvation. Our works actually reveal our need for salvation. Our righteous works are tainted with self-righteousness and pride, so we need to be saved from our works. God’s mercy is for those who know that they need it, not for those who think they deserve it.
We’re perhaps closest to revealing the heart of God when we have mercy on someone who has done wrong to us. Because God has given us what we don’t deserve, we should give others what they don’t deserve. You may need to forgive someone who’s wronged you. They don’t deserve it, but neither do you.
God sent us mercy when he sent Jesus. But how was Jesus’ work applied to our lives? Verse 5c-6, “By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” God saved us by making us new through the Holy Spirit, who was poured out on us through Jesus.
“Regeneration” means to be “born again” or “made new” (Jn. 3:3-8). God the Holy Spirit “washes,” “makes alive,” and “makes new” our hearts at the moment of conversion. Apart from this work, our hearts remain hard and dead. Because of sin, our hearts are unresponsive to God, and we’re unable to do anything about our condition.
Regeneration happens when God opens the eyes of our hearts so that we see the glory of Jesus in the gospel (2 Cor. 4:3-6). We’re given the ability to reach out to Jesus in faith and turn from our sin. We’re made new creatures.
How does God do this work? Through his Word. James 1:18, “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.” Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The miracle of conversion happens when the Spirit of God accompanies the Word of God and enables a person to embrace it.
This means that our lost friends and family members won’t be saved apart from the Word of God. The Holy Spirit regenerates people through the word.
What’s the result of this miracle in our hearts? Verse 7, “So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” God’s grace makes us right with him and heirs of all that is his.
“Heirs” implies adoption. Those who’ve been justified have also been adopted. God’s children get everything God has. Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom of God.”
Our best life is not now, but later. God’s goodness, love, mercy, and grace toward us in Jesus, brought home to our hearts through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, creates in us an unshakeable hope that our future in God’s kingdom is secure.
More Instructions
In verses 8-11, Paul comes back to his main idea, namely, that God’s work in Christ has direct implications for how we live. Believers should be devoted to doing good (v. 8), which includes pursuing peaceable relations with false teachers in the church, if possible, and removing them when necessary (vv. 9-11).
Why does Paul want Titus to “insist on these things” (v. 8)? “So that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.” Paul wants Titus to insist on God and his gospel so that believers will give their lives to serving others.
“Good works” are a mark of a true believer. One of the “good works” believers are to give themselves to is the avoidance, and removal if necessary, of false teachers in the church (vv. 9-11).
The exact content of the false teaching is not clear. Paul says in verse 9 that it’s “foolish.” The word for “controversy” can also mean “speculation.” There’s no substance in this teaching. It’s empty and vacuous. It’s a debate about words. It’s Jewish in origin because it involves speculation about the genealogies of the Old Testament. This is why Paul calls it “Jewish myths” in 1:14. It only produces strife or dissension and arguments or quarrels about the law.
The teaching is “unprofitable and worthless,” full of fables and silly stories and arguments about words that produces conflict within the church. This is why Paul tells Titus to deal with these teachers the way he does in verses 10-11.
After two warnings, the false teachers, the ones “stirring up division,” are to be put out of the church, “have nothing more to do with him” (v. 10). A divisive person is to be warned twice and if they refuse to repent and change, they’re to be removed from the church. This is following the pattern set by Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17.
We must remember that if this happens, it’s not the church’s fault. It’s the unrepentant person’s fault. Paul says in verse 11 what Jesus has already said. The person who refuses to change after being confronted is twisted by sin and self-condemned. Paul or Titus or the church aren’t to blame. The false teachers are to be removed because of their own stubbornness.
The New Testament is clear that the removal of someone from the church is done out of love and for their good (1 Cor. 5:5). The church only removes people out of hope and prayer for their return. But the New Testament is also clear that a refusal to heed the warnings of the church reveals that a person is not in Christ and must therefore be excluded from the Christian community.
Again we’ve seen that the gospel has direct implications for how we live. Believers should be devoted to doing good (v. 8), which includes pursuing peaceable relations with false teachers in the church, if possible, and removing them when necessary (vv. 9-11).
More Mission
Paul concludes his correspondence to Titus with some personal instructions. What we see here is that Paul is concerned about one thing: the advancement of the mission of Jesus Christ.
Let me make three observations from verses 12-15. First, God uses relationships to advance the gospel and build up the church. Notice Paul’s network of friends (v. 12 – Artemas and Tychicus, v. 13 – Zenas and Apollos, v. 15 – “all who are with me”).
Paul was an apostle, but he wasn’t superman. He, like us, needed relationships for help, encouragement, and prayer. He didn’t attempt to serve Christ by himself. He didn’t attempt to advance the mission by himself. He knew that Jesus’ mission was a group project.
We likewise need one another. In the New Testament, there are fifty-nine “one another” commands. Fifteen of the fifty-nine are “love one another,” and the others show us different ways we can “love one another.” For example: “Serve one another” (Gal. 5:13), “Forgive one another” (Eph. 4:32), “Admonish one another (Col. 3:16), “Encourage one another daily” (Heb. 3:13), “Confess your sins to one another,” “Pray for one another” (Js. 5:16), “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9), “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2).
Do you, like Paul, see your need for other Christians in your life? Here are some practical ways we can grow in serving one another. Instead of saying, “Let me know if you need anything,” say “Can we have lunch on Tuesday?” or “Can I help with the kids on Wednesday?” or “Can I bring you dinner on Thursday?” or “Can I give you a ride to church on Sunday?”
Find specific instead of general ways to serve. For example, use the membership directory to pray for each individual member of the church instead of the whole church generally. Be active, not passive, in loving your brothers and sisters. Talk to them about what’s going on instead of waiting on them to talk to you. Don’t wait to be asked for help, take initiative and ask for ways you can help.
Also look for ways to create a culture of evangelism here at PHBC. Ask others to pray for you when you share the gospel with someone. Invite other church members to join you in doing hospitality for the lost. Incorporate the whole church in your evangelism. The mission of “making disciples” is our mission, not just your mission.
The second observation is that gospel workers should be supported by local churches (v. 13). This applies to local workers and workers abroad (3 Jn. 5-8). Those called to preach the gospel and plant and pastor churches should be supported financially by local churches so that they’ll be free of the burden of gainful employment outside the church. 1 Corinthians 9:14, “The Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”
Thank you for faithfully giving to support me and my family, so that I can give the bulk of my time to serve you by preaching and teaching the Word. Your giving also allows our church to support church planters in Texas and North America, and international missionaries all over the world. When you give to our church, you’re supporting gospel work and gospel workers both here and all over the world.
The third observation is that churches should help “cases of urgent need” (v. 14). Churches should seek to do as much good as possible in the world. But our efforts should be focused on “urgent needs.”
This is why we focus our missions giving on the Lottie Moon offering of the IMB, as they’re focused on reaching unreached people groups. Those who’ve never heard the gospel are the most “urgent need” and our giving should reflect that.
But there are also “urgent needs” here at home. If you know of an “urgent need” in our church, please let the elders or the Housels know. We’re called to help one another in every way. Sometimes this means financially and materially. Don’t be afraid to ask if the need is urgent.
This is yet one more way we can “devote ourselves to good works” (v. 14). We aren’t saved by good works, but if we’re saved there will be good works in our lives. What we do reveals what we believe. We can’t do everything, but we should all be doing something to advance the mission of Christ.
In light of the goodness and kindness of God that’s appeared in your life, what good works can you give yourself to, so that others might know him?