Pastor’s Pen EBC Week of 11/8/2015
If you follow the news, you may have heard about the New Jersey teenager who
attempted to sue her parents for financial support after she left her home on her
18th birthday. Rachel Canning brought her parents to court requesting that her
parents pay her child support of $654.00 a week, as well as thousands of dollars in
attorney fees. Rachel’s father who was a retired police chief raised Rachel in a
wealthy, upper middle-class neighborhood in northern New Jersey. All of this took
place after her parents had already paid for her first semester in college.
Ultimately the county court judge ruled against Rachel, citing precedent issues for
future cases, but not before giving a Rachel a well needed tongue lashing for her
obvious ungrateful attitude towards her parents. After all was said and done,
Rachel’s parents then opened their home to her once again, and she is now again
living with them.
Her pride, coupled with an un-submissive spirit, mixed with her over-all
ungratefulness for what her parents did for her in raising her during her first
eighteen years of life was blatantly on display. She should have been thankful for the
good life that her parents had provided for her, and tried to be a blessing back to her
parents and others in the same way she had been treated. But no. Her pride,
arrogance, rebellion and overall ungratefulness allowed her to go as far as taking the
ones who cared for her as a baby, and provided for her, her entire life, to court.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what we do with our Heavenly Father many times.
Instead of being grateful for the love, mercy and grace that was not only displayed
for us on the cross, but also in everything from His provisions to the very air we
breath, we instead act like spoiled brats. No, we may not take God to task the way
Rachel took her parents to court, but we do show our ungratefulness for His lovingkindness towards us when we sin.
Whenever we sin we are basically saying to God that all He did for us on the cross
through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus means nothing. Whenever we go against His
clear precepts in His Word we are simply casting aside the love and the mercy and
the grace shown to us on the cross. We are unthankful and ungrateful spiritual brats.
Instead, we should show our gratefulness for the loving-kindness that was shown
towards us by being prepared to do, as our texts calls them, “good works”. So, this
week, let’s take a look at Titus 3:1-7:
“Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready
for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and
to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 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. 4 But when the goodness
and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 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, 6 whom he poured out on us richly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:1-7
I want us to learn, very clearly, from my blog this week, that Christians display the
loving-kindness of Christ by being “prepared for every good work”. As Christians,
we must be prepared at all times to display our gratefulness for the kindness, mercy,
grace and love that the Lord has shown on the cross, to others. This includes people
both inside and outside the household of faith.
In order to be ready to perform these good works we must first be reminded of
what sin is, then remember who we were before we knew the loving-kindness of
Christ, and then retain that same loving-kindness shown to us by God, through
Christ in the Gospel and finally relay those good works to others.
So first and foremost, Christians prepare themselves for “every good work” by being
reminded of what sin is. Zero in on verse 1 that says: “Remind them”. Paul is
speaking to Pastor Titus in this pastoral epistle. He is given a command to “Remind”
his people of various common sins to avoid. Each and every one of these sins are
things that everyone struggles with to a certain degree. Paul understood this, and
therefore wanted to make sure that Titus “reminded” the people of exactly what
these kinds of sins look like, in order to avoid them and instead to be prepared to
display “every good work”.
Next, we move on to the next part of the verse: “submissive to rulers and authorities,
to be obedient”. Submission to authority is something that rubs us the wrong way as
Americans. The idea of someone giving us orders or setting certain standards for us
attacks the very individualized, self-promoting mind-set that is treasured in our
culture. People feel at liberty to complain about every authority figure from their
parents, to their teacher, to their boss at work and to the president. Submission is
not something that comes easily.
Poor attitudes about authority figures come in various forms such as if you are a
child or teenager: “I don’t wanna clean my room!” or “Why do I have to do this
chore?” Perhaps on the job: “Can you believe that my boss is making work late
tonight?” or “How did that fool get into that position?” How about politically: “Did
you hear about what the president did yesterday? I didn’t vote for him. He’s not my
president!”
The outflow of submission, namely obedience, is even tougher. Actually doing what
is commanded of us is certainly a very tough thing. We then have to contend with
the decision to actually follow through in a submissive way, which can affect our
actual performance of the task required of us. With our poor attitude and unsubmissive spirit, we then have to make a decision to either do a good job or a poor
job.
In all areas of life, whether it is at home, at school, on the job or in the church, our
duty as Christians is to strive to display the loving-kindness that we have been
shown from the Savior. This attitude should be reflected in the “good works” of our
performance of the tasks required of us by the figures that God has placed in
authority over us. If your boss asks you to do something at work and you find
yourself griping about it and then doing the task half-heartily and shoddily, you are
not displaying the loving-kindness of Christ.
Maybe this same attitude transfers over to your service in the ministry. Maybe you
are not putting your full effort into a ministry because of a lack of submission. You
are not honoring the Lord at all. You are actually sinning by taking part in that
ministry.
If you are a child or a teenager and your parents ask you to do something, like clean
your room or do chores around the house, and you find yourself complaining all the
time and doing it with a bad attitude, you are sinning. You need to obey your parents
from a heart that loves and wants to honor the Lord first and because you love your
mom and dad.
All of these things remind us that our attitude toward submission to authority is
something that will make us or break us in our Christian walk. If you do not
understand this correctly, the outflow of this will be wide spread throughout your
life. You will constantly be complaining and never satisfied with your job, your kids,
your church and when you grow old you are just going to be grouchy, grumpy and
bitter.
However, Christians who take seriously God’s command to submit and obey
authorities do so from a desire to display the loving-kindness that was displayed for
them on the cross. They love and submit to the most supreme authority in their life,
the Lord Jesus and His commands, and take pleasure in them. Therefore, what
human institutions and authorities command is nothing for them. Their desire is to
honor Him ultimately knowing that disobedience to earthly authorities is ultimately
disobedience to their heavenly authority. They understand and take seriously the
instruction of their Lord when He goes on to say in the rest of Scripture:
1 Peter 5:5 - “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe
yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
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.”
Ephesians 6:1-3 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor
your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it
may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Romans 13:2 – “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has
appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
Knowing all of this, prepare yourself for the “good works” of submission and
obedience by understanding that the opposite is sin and it does not display the
loving-kindness that was shown to you in Christ.
Next, “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect
courtesy toward all people.” (v. 2) Talking about other people in malicious ways
only breeds quarrels. Gossip, slander and every other sin of the tongue is a sure sign
that you do not understand the loving-kindness of Christ found in the Gospel.
Matthew 15:18 says “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and
this defiles a person.”
Whether it is speaking ill of an authority figure, as we just touched on, or perhaps
someone who wronged you, an enemy, or whoever, it is sin. The Bible is very clear
in this instance. We are to speak evil of “no one”. We are to avoid it like the plague.
When we get into conversations with people who are griping or slandering or
gossiping about other people, we are never to take part in it, nor are we to give
approval of it. Instead, what are we to do? We are to be “gentle, and to show perfect
courtesy toward all people.”
Spurgeon, commenting on this passage stated: “Meekness and gentleness are two of
the ornaments of our faith. I would that some professed Christians would
understand that unholy contentiousness is not after the mind of Christ, it is not
according to that gracious command, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” No, the Christian
must be willing to suffer wrongfully, and to bear it in patience; he is never to be one
who renders evil for evil, or railing for railing.”
Calvin also comments on this passage by saying: “He says, towards all men, in order
to (personalize) that he should bear with even the lowest and meanest persons.
Believers, holding wicked men in contempt, did not think them worthy of any
forbearance. Such severity, which arises from nothing else than pride, Paul wished
to correct.”
Calvin and Spurgeon bring up very strong points concerning the issue of sins of the
tongue and the attitude behind them, but as Calvin pointed out, the root of this kind
sin is again “nothing else than pride”.
Pride will give us an inflated view of ourselves. This will come out in our “evil”
speech against other people and then further display itself in the quarrels, which
arise due to our sinful speech. The Christian who understands the loving-kindness
of Christ, avoids this at all costs. He knows that speaking evil of other people
dishonors the Lord Jesus who saved him and will ultimately lead to “more
ungodliness” as Paul stated in 2 Timothy 2:16: “But avoid irreverent babble, for it
will lead people into more and more ungodliness”. Instead the Christian who knows
the loving-kindness of Christ will be, as our text states, “courteous toward all
people.”
The Greek term for the word “courteous” is the word πραΰτης (praÿtēs) which
means “mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness”. The disposition or
identity of the person who knows the loving-kindness of Christ is going to be one
that has a proclivity to gentleness and meekness, not contentiousness. This
characteristic will allow the person to always be prepared to perform “every good
work”, as our texts instructs.
So, as I stated at the beginning, Christians prepare themselves for “every good work”
by being reminded of what sin is. Lack of submission and a poor attitude toward
earthly authorities, as well as a slanderous, contentious and a prideful spirit are sins
that each of us are susceptible to. We need to remember this and strive to avoid
them if our desire is to be prepared for “every good”.
Next, zeroing in on verse 3, Christians prepare themselves for “every good work” by
remembering who they were before they knew the loving-kindness of Christ.
“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.” (vs. 3)
This text describes exactly what we all were before the Lord saved us. It could
basically be summed up in the first three statements made by Paul in this verse:
“Foolish, disobedient, let astray”.
Fist, we were “foolish”. We thought we knew better and therefore we did not desire
to learn. We were closed-minded, un-teachable, and critical. These are
characteristics of unsaved people. We thought that we could see, even though we
were blind and would not come to Jesus for sight. We thought we knew better than
God ultimately.
As Romans 1:21 states: “Our foolish hearts were darkened” and therefore, we
thought ourselves to be better judges of what was good for us than the Lord our
God. We refused Scriptures warnings because we loved our sin. We rejected divine
truth because we did not care to be taught and disdained the lowly position of a
disciple sitting at Jesus' feet.
This is what it means to be an unbeliever. It is ignorant, prideful, foolishness.
Unsaved people do not want to be taught but instead remain content in their
foolishness by disregarding God, the Gospel and Scriptures plain commands, no
matter how much they practically make sense.
They close their eyes, cover their ears and try to drown out the truth of the Gospel
so that they can pridefully and foolishly continue to live in and justify their sinful
actions that ultimately come from foolish thinking. This is what you were before God
displayed His loving-kindness towards you in Christ. So we find that foolish and
ignorant thinking therefore, leads to foolish and disobedient actions.
Next, we were “disobedient”. Even though God’s ways are plain, and make the most
sense practically and morally, the unregenerate person will by nature, strive with all
of their being to kick back against Him.
One of the biggest lies that our culture strives to preach is that man is ultimately
good at his core. There are a few bad apples out there, but those are the exception
not the rule. Not to mention, those people are simply victims of their circumstance,
and under different circumstance they would be a good person as well. Nothing
could be further from the truth.
Man, at his core is evil. Totally depraved. He is selfish, greedy, prideful and only out
for himself. The Bible states in Romans 3:12: “No one does good, not even one.”
Without God’s general grace in His restraint of mankind, we would be like animals.
We would eat each other.
An analogy that I like to use often, that I stole from J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, is
the analogy of the invisible ring. If I gave you a ring that had the power to turn you
invisible whenever you put it on, what would you do with that ring? Honestly.
Would they be all upright, and godly things? Would you turn into some kind of
super-hero like “Invisible Man”, pushing old ladies out of the way of fast-moving
trains? I don’t think so. If we had that kind of power, our sin nature and total
depravity would come out for sure.
Mankind’s sinful actions of plain disobedience to God’s commands are the outflow of
the foolishness, which we once lived in. However, not only did our foolishness led us
to disobedience actions, it allowed us to be “led astray” further from God.
The text goes on to say we were “led astray”. A willfully foolish and disobedient
heart will desire to be “led astray” by others who hold to the same foolish and
disobedient thoughts and actions. The desire of the unregenerate person is to be
around and be educated by other unregenerate people who can articulate their
foolishness and disobedience in a more intelligent fashion. They seek out others to
confirm their foolishness and disobedience in order to justify themselves against
their seared conscience. Their desire is to be led astray from God.
These three truths lead to the outflow of a life not changed by the Gospel, which is
one that is filled with “envy”, “malice” and “hatred”, not “good works”. It only makes
sense that the outflow of a foolish, disobedient person who desires to be led astray,
would be envy, malice and hatred towards others. How can you really perform
“good works” as our text described while still living in this very selfish, ungrateful
and foolish way? You cannot. Even if you were to try, your good deeds would be
filled with evil intentions and bad motives. There is no way you could perform any
kind of truly “good work”.
Really, these three things, envy, malice and hatred sum up every kind of atrocity that
we see committed on this planet. War, murder, racial intolerance, slavery,
prostitution, human trafficking, rape. These extreme cases are the outflow of sin
unrestrained. Each and every one of them contains any or all of those
characteristics. This is who we were before Christ. We could not perform any kind of
“good work” because there was no good within that would allow us to.
However, because of Christ, and His glorious Gospel, we have been set free from the
“slavery” (vs. 3) and instead shown the loving-kindness of God through Christ in
making us “heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (vs. 7). If this is true in our
lives, we must willing to react with gratitude in the form of “good works” towards
others by retaining the loving-kindness of the Gospel.
Next, according to vs. 4-7, Christians prepare themselves for “every good work” by
retaining the loving-kindness of God their Savior.
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 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, 6 whom he
poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by
his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (vs. 4-7)
Those who understand the depths of these verses will be grateful people who desire
to honor the Savior by being a blessing to other people. The joy of the Gospel truths
gives the true Christian a completely new outlook on life. As the text states God’s
“goodness and loving-kindness… (has) … appeared” and He has indeed “saved us”
from the life of foolishness, disobedience, envy, malice and hatred that we once
walked in.
As vs. 5 says “according to his own mercy” he washed us with the blood sacrifice of
the Savior and then called us, regenerated us and renewed us by the power of the
Holy Spirit. We know that it was “not because of works done by us in righteousness”
(vs. 5) but only when He “justified (us) by his grace (that) we… became heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.” God’s eternal mercy and loving-kindness was
given to us and shown to us in the greatest abundance that God could have
displayed, namely as vs. 6 states: “through Jesus Christ”.
We are His people. We are His children. We are His heirs. We are loved and accepted
in God’s sight for all eternity! This is what it means to have what vs. 7 calls “eternal
life”. The God of the universe loves me! Wow!
True Christians, who understand these truths, never, EVER get over them. They
never tire of hearing about the Gospel. They never get beyond the Gospel because
there is nothing deeper or wider than what God has done for us through His only
begotten Son.
Therefore, as a Christian, the only way you can express the joy and gratitude that the
Gospel of Jesus Christ brings is through what our text calls “good works”. The only
way you can be truly “ready for every good work” (vs. 2) is by retaining, over and
over again, the Gospel of Jesus. It should be the soul purpose of your life. It should
be your motivation. It should be the thing that gives you goose bumps when you
think about it or sing of it during worship. It should be your life. If this is true, it will
be reflected in your actions. You will indeed “relay” these good works to others.
Finally, Christians relay “good works” to others because it shows the lovingkindness of Christ. This last point should be pretty simple. If you have been shown
such loving-kindness and mercy and grace in the greatest and most eternal way that
the God of the Universe could have shown, you will desire to show that same
kindness and love and mercy to others by your actions.
The Bible speaks so often about doing good to others. It is a non-negotiable trait that
every Christian should have. Let’s take a look at what the Scripture has to say:
Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may
see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
James 2:14-18: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does
not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and
lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and
filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So
also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have
faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show
you my faith by my works.”
Hebrews 13:16: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such
sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good
works”
2 Thessalonians 3:13: “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.”
On and on the list could go, but the point is simple: If you are a Christian you will
never cease in delighting in doing good to others. How to serve others and be a
blessing to other people will be on the forefront of your mind all the time. As
Romans 12:10 state, we will be striving to “outdo one another” in showing the love
of Christ.
In this way, and in this way only, can the outflow of gratitude for the Gospels sake
happen in our lives. If Jesus and His work in our lives is real and taken seriously and
rejoiced in regularly, then the overflow of that joy will spill out on to other people
over and over again.
What does this look like practically? Number one, you must be affirming your love
for others vocally. People need to know that we love them. This means having
purposeful, intimate conversations with people, where people know that our purest
intention for them is love. We perform this good work to both people inside and
outside of the church. Both saved and unsaved people need to know that we indeed
love them. In both cases, the Gospel should be central.
If you come to church every week and when you fellowship with the brethren all
you talk about is the weather, TV shows, the latest app. for your cell phone or other
more frivolous matters, you are not affirming your love for that person. The central
part of our relationship and the love that unites us as Christians is the love that was
displayed for each of us on the cross. This means that when we come together as
Christians our conversations and what we vocalize to one another should not only
include, but be centered around Christ. We should be talking about what we are
learning, what God is teaching us, prayer requests, confrontations over sins,
struggles, joys. Christ and the things of God should be what unites us, not the things
of the world. Certainly, we discuss those more trivial things as well, but if that is all
we talk about, then we are not really loving one another the way we should.
By the way, don’t be afraid to just tell people openly that you love them. A quick “I
love you brother” or “I love you sister” goes a long way.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, if in your relationships with unsaved coworkers, families members or neighbors, you never bring up the Gospel, or perhaps
they do not know you are a Christian, you are not affirming your love for that
person. Preaching the Gospel to the unsaved is not only a command from God, but it
is the most loving thing you could ever communicate to another person. While the
unsaved person may not see it that way at the time, we must love God enough, and
love that person enough to communicate the pure, un-molested Gospel, clearly,
fearlessly with the utmost love for that person in our heart.
Of course, it is one thing to simply communicate vocally your love for other people,
it is another thing to show your love for others practically, therefore we must be
displaying our love for others practically.
The ways to display your love for others practically are vast, so I have chosen to
zero on three areas, specifically, physical needs, financial needs and emotional
needs. Again, these could be applied to our relationships with both the saved and
unsaved, however, the practical love that we display for unsaved people should
always be done with the intention of sharing the Gospel with that person. Helping an
unsaved person with a physical, financial or emotional need may give you an
opportunity to share Christ with them.
First, look for physical needs that can be accommodated. There are many practical
ways we can help other people and it is going to vary from person to person.
Perhaps this will mean giving someone a ride somewhere, writing them a note, or
helping them with a project around their home. We must have our eyes open for
these needs and be prepared to help others in any way that we can.
The same could be said for financial needs. Perhaps someone has fallen on hard
times and you are led to be a blessing to someone in this area of giving them a gift.
We are blessed in our church to have a reminder of this every month at the Lord’s
supper. As you know we take up a special offering every month after we take
communion. These funds go to help people who are struggling financially in our
congregation. If you are looking for a way you can regularly be a blessing to others
financially, be sure to take part of that and prepared for the good work of helping
the saints in this area.
Perhaps helping with something emotionally. Perhaps someone has just lost a loved
one, or is having some serious family or health issues, you can show your love for
that person by simply being there for them. Listening and allowing others to just
talk. Perhaps visiting them in the hospital or nursing home. Giving them a hug.
Reassuring them with Scripture. All of these good works display the loving-kindness
of Christ. We must therefore, as Christians, display this loving-kindness of Christ to
other by being prepared for every good work.