Titus Overview: A Path to Godliness
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Morning everyone, welcome to Epping Presbyterian Church. It’s my joy and privilege to bring God’s Word this morning.
1. Introduction
Do you ever feel like in these times that we live in, gee its really hard to preach the Gospel and live for Christ. There’s the pressure outside, the public square and there’s pressure within, even in our churches.
Remember when Andrew Thorburn resigned?. He was the CEO of the Essendon Football Club for… a day. He was associated with a church. City on a hill. But in these times, you can be guilty by association. There is little understanding of the Christian faith in the community and little tolerance for it. And in his case, especially if you hold a different view on sexuality. Were you a bit like me? Did you feel that anger? Lament? did you feel a bit defeated? How can this be? What’s going on in our world? Why are we so hated? There’s pressure in the public square.
There’s pressure within. Pastors that have deconstructed their faith. Pin up Christian men who now say nah nah the Gospel is just too narrow. it’s not the truth. You know they are. Leaders and songwriters who have disowned their faith.
it seems like everywhere you look, it’s just getting harder to preach the Gospel, harder to live for Christ.
Even the 2021 census showed us that fewer than 44% identify as Christians. In 2011, it was 61% in 2011, 2016 it was 52%, now 44%. More people no longer call themselves Christians.
We are in the Melbourne – the progressive state. Do you feel the pressure? And that’s not even to mention our own internal struggles. Fear of how bad we might look in front of others. Anxiety over how our friends might now perceive us. Maybe even put our jobs on the line.
Like, If you’re finding it hard to bring the wonderful life giving hope filled message of the Gospel to your friends and family it is not surprising. It’s not surprising at all.
2. Context
That’s why it’s so good that we’re studying Titus this Term. It’s a great little letter. It should encourage us to keep perserveing, there’s hope.
For the Apostle Paul writes to Titus knowing that he has an incredibly difficult task ahead of him. You could feel it in the tone of the letter couldn’t you? Sharp. Direct. Teach what accords to sound doctrine. Rebuke. Silence. Remind. Exhort. Titus has a hard task ahead of him in really hard context.
But Paul knows Titus. He knows what’s Titus is made of. He knows Titus was an experienced and trustworthy fellow Gospel worker. Paul calls him chapter 1 verse 4
titus 1:4
To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Paul calls him his son. His beloved son, my true child. Not biological of course. But a child in the faith. Paul probably shared the Gospel with Titus and saw him come to faith. And Titus’ proved himself faithful. He was trustworthy. He had faced pressure situations. There were those in Galatia who wanted Titus to be circumcised because he was a Greek. He didn’t do it because that’s going back to the law. He’s free in Christ now. And remember Titus was Paul’s representative in Corinth. He delivered the stern tearful letter. He was very capable. Experienced. He has dealt with conflict. He knew the Gospel and lived it out.
So Paul had a task for him. The next verse.
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
There were churches planted in Crete. Crete was little island off the Mediterranean sea. We’re not sure how many churches were planted. But his task was to set things right. How bad was it? Well, there were no elders.
In fact because of this lack of elders, there are plenty of other harmful voices. Did you catch it chapter 1 verse 10?
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.
The circumcision party. Jews that had apparently become followers of Jesus. what were they doing? They wanted to go back to the good old days of Judaism. Circumcision. Keep the law. And it’s harming the church. Upsetting whole households.
Look at Paul’s direct response. Titus 1:11
They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
This is not new for us. Teaching for shameful gain. It’s the prosperity Gospel. It’s not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. IT’s not the Gospel of grace. It’s wrong. It’s false teaching. Paul sums it up well when he says verse 16
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Titus, put these churches in order. Not easy is it? you don’t have elders, you’ve got dodgy teaching within, and more than that, it’s a dodgy culture in a place called Crete. The culture is so far away from God. It’s deeply corrupt. Did you see how they are described?
Titus 1:12 (ESV)
One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Cretans did not know the word of truth. They are deceived.
Cretans did not know the love of the Father – They do all kinds of evil.
Cretans did not know selfless other person centered God – They are lazy. They are self-absorbed gluttons.
In fact when anyone hears the word Cretan, they thought liars. You can’t trust a Cretan. You can’t change a Cretan. They’re liars! Nothing good comes from Crete. It had a bad reputation.
Can you see there’s pressure from within? The circumcision party. There’s pressure from outside. The culture filled with liars. Do you do you reckon it was easy for Titus?
Put what remained in order, Titus.
The question is; how? This just sounds so overwhelming. How would he do this? Where does he begin? What resources does he need.
Paul doesn’t begin with the what, or the how
But the heart of it, is the why
It’s that the truth leads to godliness. The truth that transforms. And that’s the big theme of the letter. The truth that leads to godliness. The knowledge of the truth. Knowing the Gospel. That’s what saves us.
3. The Gospel saves us
Look at 1:1-4 – the opening verses of the letter – it’s the Gospel that saves us.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Great encouraging opening to the letter isn’t it? Notice, there’s the purpose of the letter? Paul, the Apostle the servant of God, he’s doing all this for who? the faith of all the people God has chosen. What’s he responsible for? Passing on the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness
Stop for a moment to think how profound that is.
How do we get teenagers to respect their parents? How do you get young adults to be sexually pure? How do we get seniors, empty nesters to continue to use their lives to serve? How do we become more prayerful? How will a Cretan turn from being a lazy glutton?
The knowledge of the truth.
It's the Gospel.
You don’t get it by telling people what to do all the time. Keep the law. I remember listening to David Cook. A very excellent presbyterian preacher. And he said, maybe it resonated with me because of my Asian upbringing. He was talking to parents in the room how they teach their children. “Don’t just tell them to do do do. He was speaking to a bunch of ABCs, Australia born Chinese folk. We grew up told to work hard. Do this. Do that. Do this. Do that. Work work work. study study study. Don’t just say do. Tell them why.
Teach the knowledge of the truth.
This is what Paul tells Titus to stress. Notice the word insist, stress. Chapter 3:8
The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
If you want people devoted to what is good. Don’t just telling them to do good. I want you to insist, stress these things. What are these things? Well, let’s go back a verse
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
That doesn’t sound like law. That’s how we are justified – not guilty before God. that’s by his grace. God’s free gift.
TItus 3:6
whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
There’s no law there. It’s Christ our Saviour. Christ has saved us.
There’s no law to be found. it’s all the Gospel
Stress these things. What are we stressing? What are we drumming on about. It’s the Gospel that saves us. If you want people to change. Preach the Gospel.
Let’s read that section
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,
Stress these things
It’s the kindness of love of our Saviour
How he’s Saved us from sin because of his mercy
How he’s Washed us regenerated and renewed us
How he’s justified us – we’re not guilty before God, how? by his grace – it’s a free gift.
How we are heirs of eternal life by trusting in Jesus. think about that.
Constantly stress these things
Want you to go on and on and on about the Gospel. How Christ has saved us. He has loved us by sending his Son Jesus to die and rise for our sins. That’s his mercy. That’s how we are right with God.
Stress it. go on and on and on about these things
And then what do you get? A godly church, lives transformed by the Gospel.
Stress these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
Teach, rebuke silence the circumcision party by teaching them the Gospel.
Pray but teach the Gospel. God changes liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons.
God’s spirit through preaching of the Gospel can change the hardest of hearts.
Do you believe that?
What do you need to teach teenagers? Teach them the gospel, teach them grace – how good God is. they are sinners they need to be saved by the Gospel
What do we need to teach our young adults? The love and mercy that’s available in Christ. His love in Jesus is greater than all other love.
Old people? Teach them about Grace. For the grace of God has appeared, Jesus has come, bringing salvation to all people.
Old men, young men, old women young women. It’s all about God’s grace. Jesus who come to save us from death and judgment.
This is what we are on about. God’s saved us by grace in Christ.
I remember being a Sunday school helper. And the coordinator, won’t name her she was a lovely lady but she said to me in passing one time. ‘why do we always tell the kids about Jesus? we’re saying the same thing every week.’ On one level I understood her. You’re right, we do say the same thing every week. Jesus is lord. Jesus is saviour. And we did the same thing over and over again, so trust Jesus, the common applications read your Bible and pray.
I know realised the problem was us. We taught it. it was faithful. But it was very intellectual.
I thought about that as we had bible study this week. Overview of Titus. And as we sat and I heard it from my brothers in Christ how wonderful the Gospel is from their perspective. How good God is. How Christ has saved us. Us underserving sinners. And brought us forgiven. his great mercy.
I could see they were so amazed, struck by how good our God is. That Jesus would save us sinners. That’s the right response. Have you grown dull? This is the same same message. Don’t let it get old. Don’t let it become an intellectual exercise.
God is glorious and kind and generous. This Knowledge of the truth. It should just leave us in awe. over and over again. How good is our God?
The letter of Titus is about this knowledge of the truth – the Gospel
4. The Gospel leads to Godliness
But on the other side of this. What’s the knowledge of the truth for? Truth leads to godliness. Did you see it in verse 1? I showed you before.
Titus 1:1 (ESV)
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
what does knowledge of the truth lead to?
godliness
It’s not just to know the truth. Honestly, God’s not impressed if you know the 5 points of Calvinism. Gods not impressed if you are good at talking doctrine. But it just stays in here. You say the right things. But you don’t live it out. But God doesn’t want us to just be a bible teaching church. We want teach the Bible and obey what it says.
Knowledge of truth leads to a transformed life.
The Gospel leads to godliness.
That’s what the Gospel does. It leads to godliness.
just to show you how many times Paul emphasizes this.
Did you notice the phrase ‘to do what is good?’ let me show you. it’s a bible overview afterall. it’s good to do a bit of bible flicking.
In chapter 1 we see in verses 5 to 9 that Titus was left behind to appoint elders in the different churches. And then he gives qualifications for elders. It’s character, character character. but tucked in verse 8
Titus 1:8 (ESV)
but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
Look at the opposite. the false teachers. These empty talkers, deceivers, they
Titus 1:16 (ESV)
They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
That’s talking about elders at church. Then jump to chapter 2 with me.
now we are in the home. 2:1 Teach what accords with sound doctrine. He then gives all these examples old women older men younger men, and says to Titus
titus 2:7
Titus 2:7 (ESV)
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,
Why? For the grace of God has appeared and then verse 14
Titus 2:14 (ESV)
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
See our purpose? God has saved a people. we’re his possession. now zealous - passionate for good works.
That’s the order. Saved for good works.
And finally, chapter 3. In the church, in the home, and now in the world.
Titus 3:1 (ESV)
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Church, home and now public square. be ready for every good work.
that’s not all. it’s like the price is right. don’t know if you ever watched that show. but there’s more. verse 8
The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
Be devoted – like a dog at a bone to good works.
Just to hammer the point. In his conclusion of the letter. what must God’s people learn?
Titus 3:14 (ESV)
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
be devoted.
zealous
learn to devote
to what? good works
It is so clear isn’t it? The truth leads to godliness - good works. That’s to be like God. godly. full of good works. love for others. because of the Gospel.
Friends this is a letter about transformed lives. and you can understand it’s against the backdrop of liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons. Christians stand out like a sore thumb. Doing good works. living a godly life. doesn’t matter what’s happening in the culture around. you, christian live a godly life.
And more than that, notice what godliness does for the unbeliever? It’s actually God’s evangelism strategy. It’s how we reach the lost.
Did you see in the book. It’s not just be godly just because. It’s to reach the lost. Notice the first example of this, teach older women so that verse 5 chapter 2, so ‘that the word of God may not be reviled.’ the way you live means the word of God is not reviled. Second example, Verse 7– show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, why? So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Do good works so you’re opponent can say nothing bad.
And then to the bondservants live godly lives so verse 10 in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.
What happens if you live godly good lives? Do you see?
3 times in chapter 2. What will happen if they live godly lives? Verse 5 – no one will malign the word of God. they have no reason to criticize the bible. Verse 8 – those critical will be ashamed, so that verse 10 – they may adorn the doctrine of God our saviour. The Bible will seem good. Followers of Jesus will seem good. God our saviour will seem good.
This is God’s strategy to reach the world. He wants us to be godly. Our lives should be so good that unbelievers go… oh, there’s something different about him. about her. Look at how they live, how they talk, how they love - i wonder who their God is. Is that your thinking about a godly life?
Well, here’s the biggest statement about godliness. Come to chapter 2 verses 11.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our 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 lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Christ died to rescue us from our sin. Does your Gospel end there? Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness. I have been saved. This is the best message ever. And it is.
It’s free forgiveness and a place in heaven. now i’m just waiting for heaven. I know good folk who think like that. You know those folk who are just too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. Is that you? Just waiting for heaven. Godliness stuff is just optional. You don’t get saved and now the rest is up to you. No. Why did Christ die? Verse 14 second half to purify for himself a people for his own possession. It wasn’t just to save us, but to purify us – that’s part of the reason he died for us. Christ loves you so you will be different. He died so that you are not just saved, but you will become like Jesus to do what is good. you’re whole life is turned upside down. Why? So that through his people God will reached the world with the Gospel. It’s so important that we are godly. So that we can be like Christ to reach the world.
This idea really threw me. I’m saved by grace and I want to do good because it’s nice. I want to be like jesus. But The idea that my godliness shapes how a believer comes to Christ. i just thought just share the Gospel. But I remember sitting in staff meeting, we’re talking about Exodus and the purpose of the law. This is not a new idea in the Bible. God’s people are to keep the law to evangelise the nations. God’s people were suppose to live out the commandments not just to be holy, set apart. But it was to reach the nations. That’s god’s evangelism strategy. Truth leads to godliness. Our lives are to be so different, so attractive such that people can’t help but wonder who is your God? A perfect opportunity to share the Gospel. Do you see?
and we do all this knowing our hope. that’s what we are waiting eagerly for. titus 1:2 hope of eternal life. God doesn’t lie. 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus. WE’re 3:7 heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We have a glorious future brothers and sisters.
5. Conclusion
Titus is about how knowing the truth leads to godliness. Knowing the Gospel saves us. Only the Gospel saves us. But it leads to a godly life. a life full of good works. It doesn’t matter how hard the culture gets. how far it turns away from God. We teach, we preach the Gospel. We live godly lives that’s God’s evangelism strategy.
Let’s pray together