Ready for Every Good Work (Titus 3:1-7)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Titus 3:1-7.

We’re almost to the end of the letter to Titus and really, what that means is that we’re almost to the end of our series on the Pastoral Epistles. So, let me take a few moments before we jump in to recap a bit of Titus today; next week, I plan on doing a little bit of a recap over all the Pastoral Epistles, but I’ll save that for next week.

So over the past month-and-a-half, we’ve been working through the letter of Paul to Titus and we’ve dealt with some significant ideas as Paul gives some advice, perhaps even some commands into how Titus ought to handle his responsibilities as he pastors the church in Titus.

Paul starts in the first part of ch. 1 by reminding Titus of his responsibility on the island of Crete—to oppose false teaching that’s rampant within the church by first selecting elders who are biblically qualified while also opposing the false teaching with true or right teaching and doctrines.

Those ideas are then expanded on through the end of ch. 1 into all of ch. 2 and the idea is for Titus to deal with these issues before heading back to rejoin Paul in Paul’s missionary and church planting efforts.

As we’ve worked through these chapters, both Josh and I have highly emphasized the need of not just right teaching, but also sound teachers—despite the modern push by many different churches and even denominations to ignore wrong teaching to present an appearance of unity or to appear more loving or even in an effort to be more about the mission is completely unbiblical. Yes, the Bible teaches the importance of unity, love, and the mission of making disciples, but not in detriment to the truth.

Yes, we’re to be unified, but what are we to be unified on? The truth.

Yes, we’re to love, but is it really love if we don’t tell people the truth?

Yes, we’re to be about the mission of making disciples, but if we don’t disciple people into the truth, what are we discipling them into?

Paul’s getting towards the end of his letter to Titus and he’s dealing with how the people within the church on Crete ought to act towards people—in particular, how they ought to act towards unbelievers. It makes sense that Paul would do this because of how the people of Crete are described in ch. 1—Titus 1:10–12 “10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.””

So, instead of being like this—insubordinate, empty talkers, deceitful, evil, and lazy, how should the church behave?

Let’s look at Titus 3:1-7.

Titus 3:1–7 ESV

1 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.

As we study Titus 3:1-7, we’re going to break it into two parts (1) Right Behavior towards Others (1-2) and (2) The Theological Basis for Right Behavior (3-7). The idea is that as Titus teaches the people within the church on Crete, they shouldn’t act like the Cretans do, but rather, they should act like this towards unbelievers. Why? Because everyone within the church were once unbelievers as well. Today’s sermon will cause us to reflect on how we treat unbelievers and it should cause us to consider maybe changing the way we interact with unbelievers because we were just like them at one time.

Prayer for Illumination

Right Behavior towards Others (1-2)

As the text starts in Titus 3, Paul (in an almost rapid-fire way) gives a command to Titus that includes multiple ideas to teach the people in Crete.

So, the idea is that Titus is charged with teaching or even confronting the people in Crete to match their behavior with these statements.

Note, that Paul tells Titus to remind them of these things—meaning, Titus isn’t teaching them anything that they hadn’t heard before—none of this is new.

Rather, these are all things that they ought to already know and live by as Christians on the island of Crete.

However, if Paul thinks that they need reminded of these ideas, it’s probably because they weren’t already living in a way that was proper or right—particularly when dealing with unbelievers.

So, while Titus is on the island of Crete, he’s to remind the people of how they are to respond or act with unbelievers.

And, there are six ideas or even commands that the people of Crete need to be reminded of, I’m going to list them and then talk about each one individually—Paul says that they are (1) to be submissive to rulers and authorities, (2) to be obedient, (3) to be ready for every good work, (3) to speak evil of no one, (4) to avoid quarreling, (5) to be gentle, and (6) to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Let’s consider each one of these ideas:

To be submissive to rulers and authorities—there are two ways that we can look at this, we can look at it in an ecclesiastical or church sense or we could look at this in a civil or government sense.

If we’re looking at it from a church sense, the idea would be that the church, the congregation ought to listen to what the elders of the church has told them by virtue of their role within the church.

The issue with this idea is that within its context, this seems to focus on how believers respond to unbelievers; and since church leaders are supposed to be believers already, Paul can’t be talking about being submissive to rulers and authorities.

Instead, the idea is that believers ought to be submissive to governmental rulers and authorities to the extent that it is possible for them to be.

Of course, we know that if the governmental rulers and authorities attempt to force us to do something unbiblical or sinful, that it would be right for us to reject their rule and in some cases even rebel against them.

But, this isn’t talking about situations in which the government is leading people into sin, this is a general statement, that unless the government is leading people into sin, it is right for Christians to submit to the governing authorities around us.

This idea of submitting to governmental rulers isn’t unique to Paul, Peter says the same in 1 Peter 2:13–15 “13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

We see it repeatedly throughout Scripture, with the goal as 1 Thessalonians 4:11 says “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,”

Many of these statements, particularly Peter’s statement was written in a time period and nation in which Christians were actively persecuted and murdered for their faith; and yet, the idea is that if the government isn’t requiring you to sin, then you should be submissive to them.

Though, let me be abundantly clear—there is a time when dealing with governmental officials when you must do as Peter says in Acts 5:29 “We must obey God rather than men.”

I think the COVID pandemic when governments were shutting down churches is a good example of this—the Bible teaches us to not neglect gathering together as the body of Christ, the moment the government insisted on keeping churches closed is an instance in which Christians are to obey God rather than man.

To be obedient—I think ties into the idea of being submissive to governing authorities whenever possible. Again, with the understanding that if the governing officials are pushing us to be sinful in any way, then it is right for us to disobey and to reject their push.

A good example of this would be the Christians during the Roman empire, who were persecuted and sometimes killed because they refused to worship the emperor.

To be ready for every good work—and to clarify, this isn’t a statement saying that good works can save them—good works offer no salvific attribute, which is often misunderstood within Christendom today.

Paul would never argue that good works could save, in fact, he’s abundantly clear (particularly in the letter to the Romans) that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

No one can earn salvation, no one can work harder to gain more favor with God, you repent of your sins, call on the name of the Lord, and believe in Him and He saves you.

However, Paul along with James along with Jesus, along with all the other biblical authors are very clear that if you genuinely do believe, there will be good works to back it up.

Again, not because good works save, but because good works are the fruits of someone who does genuinely believe—meaning, if you don’t have good works, you need to check your heart:

You might not even be an actual believer in Jesus Christ.

Or, you might be holding on to sin that’s preventing you from producing fruit.

In either case, the next step is to repent and follow Jesus.

To speak evil of no one—and this is often a source of problem for many people within the church today, especially with the advent of social media.

This includes ideas like lies and slander, which is intentionally lying about someone to hurt them or their reputation, it includes the spread of even true facts if it’s done with a bad intent or a bad heart.

It includes the idea of gossip—even if the gossip is done in the name of a prayer request or just giving someone some information.

If we’re realizing that these ideas are genuinely speaking evil and then take into account the fact that Jesus says that even our thoughtless words will be held into account, it’s clear that we need to be a little more careful with what we say in-person, Tweet, or post on Facebook (or whatever online format you use).

To avoid quarreling—This doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t confront someone if there’s a problem. Nor does this mean that if someone attacks you, you’re just going to lay down and let them beat you up.

Rather, the idea of avoiding quarreling is really more along the lines that you aren’t walking around trying to start random fights for no reason.

Or, in other words, if someone thinks of you right now, they shouldn’t automatically think that you’re a contentious person to be around.

Rather, they really ought to see you as a gentle person—not necessarily a pushover in which anyone could walk all over you, but rather someone who controls themself in such a way that they’re not overly aggressive, rather they’re kind in how they act and react.

Ultimately, there’s an idea of showing perfect courtesy toward all people, which really is just another way of pointing to the fruits of the Spirit as a guide to how we ought to live and act towards other people.

Remember, that everything that Paul is saying to Titus—for Titus to teach the church in Crete—concern how the church, how believers, are to act and respond towards unbelievers, non-Christians; and there’s a reason for this beyond just pointing at the fruits of the Spirit. The reasoning for encouraging, exhorting, and teaching this right behavior towards unbelievers, non-Christians is found in vv. 3-7. Let’s look at those verses again.

The Theological Basis for Right Behavior (3-7)

Titus 3:3–7 ESV

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.

Why should Christians act and respond towards non-Christians/unbelievers with kindness, gentleness, perfect courtesy? Why should Christians speak evil of no one, be ready for every good work, be submissive (when possible) to governing authorities? Because at one time, we also were unbelievers.

At one time, we thought the same way, we acted the same way, we reacted the same way as those who aren’t Christian.

And the words that Paul uses to describe how we once were aren’t exactly flattering.

He says that prior to salvation, we were all foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures (or, put differently slaves to our sinful appetites).

He says at one time, we were filled with malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Again, not entirely flattering and yet, that’s how he describes how non-Christians are and how the Christians on the island of Crete were prior to their salvation.

If nothing else, it ought to humble them—because prior to salvation, they were just as sinful, just as degraded, just as vile as the least of the least.

And truthfully, what Paul points out is that if it wasn’t for God’s grace and His mercy shown to them through His Son, they would still be just like the unbelievers on Crete, just like non-Christians who are (according to Paul) foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to their sins, filled with envy and malice, and hatred.

Again, it ought to humble them because Paul makes it abundantly clear that apart from God’s goodness, His loving kindness, His grace, and His mercy, every Christian would be in the same position as the worst unbeliever imaginable.

Yet, God, in His loving kindness and goodness provided for a means of salvation from foolishness, disobedience, slavery to sin, envy, malice, and hatred in His Son, who is our Savior.

And note, in v. 5 that this salvation, again, is not due to any amount of work that any human person could do, it’s not because of any good works that could be done by an individual, but it’s all due to His mercy and His willingness to wash and regenerate and renew His people in the Holy Spirit through His Son, Jesus Christ.

No human can ever do enough good works to justify Himself in the sight of God Almighty, but Jesus Christ is the atonement for those who do as Romans 10 says “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.””

It is in His abundant grace and mercy in which salvation is found—to the extent that no human being can work to achieve that salvation, but Jesus offers it freely to those who simply believe.

And, it is in God’s mercy and grace seen through His Son and in the Holy Spirit that those who have repented from their previous lifestyle of sin and called on the name of the Lord have been justified by his grace and have become fellow heirs “according to the hope of eternal life.”

Or, in other words, again, salvation is absolutely not something that we can earn or work for.

It is something that Jesus gives as a result of our repentance and belief and His obedience even to His death on the cross.

And when this is considered within the context of Titus 3, we then have our application.

Think with me the point that Paul is driving at—that as Christians, we are to treat unbelievers—to act and react with unbelievers in a certain way. We are to submit to rulers and authorities as much as possible, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work (in general). We are to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

That’s regardless of how they think or how they act. It’s regardless of their political ideology, it’s regardless of who they plan to vote for in November. It’s regardless of whether or not they’re upstanding citizens or absolute heathens. It doesn’t matter if you like them or not.

This is how Christians ought to respond with unbelievers, why? Because at one time, you were just like them and it is only because Jesus saved you that you are now different.

So, let’s figure out how we ought to apply this.

Application

If we were just like the unbelievers prior to our salvation, which Paul makes abundantly clear that we were, then this shifts how we think and how we act and how we react towards unbelievers; and it reminds us that there was absolutely nothing that we could’ve done to save ourselves, so it reorients how we think about ourselves. With this in mind, I think there are three truths that we ought to apply from a text like this: (1) you need to reconsider the way you treat unbelievers, (2) you need to allow the truths of this passage to change how you do evangelism, and (3) you need to remain humble when thinking about salvation—your salvation and other people’s salvation.

Let’s talk through these ideas:

First, you need to reconsider how you treat unbelievers—unbelievers don’t act or think like believers because they’re unbelievers. Thus, when we’re talking with unbelievers, when we’re living near unbelievers, and working with unbelievers, we cannot assume that they’re going to see things in the same way that we do; and thus, we should treat them in light of the truth that in their mind, in their heart, they don’t think the same way, they don’t act the same way, they don’t react the same way—and we cannot control their behavior and thoughts, we can only control our own.

So, we need to be careful in the way that we speak to them to not push them into putting up walls before we can actually give them the Gospel. Some suggestions to prevent those walls from going up include:

Being careful not to attack them as a person—of course, we’re clear when it comes to issues of sin, but you can point out an issue of sin without attacking the person themselves—or, in other words, you can be clear concerning issues of sin and still exemplify the character that Paul tells Titus to remind the Cretans to have.

We can confront sin while still being submissive to rulers and authorities, we can confront sin while still being obedient, while being ready for every good work. We can confront sin while not speaking evil about other people. We can confront sin and still avoid quarreling, while still being gentle and courteous towards all people.

We can interact with unbelievers without engaging in what’s often referred to as ad hominum attacks—we don’t need to and we shouldn’t attack the person themselves—all it does it put up walls.

Be careful not to give other reasons for walls to go up—for instance, having really firm opinions on things that are ultimately inconsequential and being very vocal about those opinions without regard to other people’s opinions will cause walls to go up.

For instance, let me give you a little bit of a silly example. If you happen to be a car person, but you’re vehemently opposed to every type of car except Chevys, that’s fine; however, if you’re very vocal about how opposed you are to everything except Chevys to the extent that in every conversation you bring up how much you hate Ford and you dislike Nissan, or whatever it may be; to someone who thinks differently then you, you’re giving them reasons to put up walls.

Someone who might prefer Ford over Chevy might decide to stop talking to you about cars because every time they mention Ford, you go on a tirade about how Ford is inferior to Chevy.

Someone who might prefer Nissan over Chevy might hesitate to be open with you about cars because every time they mention cars at all, you make your opinion about Chevy abundantly known.

If you’re not careful, you might lose your ability to influence someone because you’ve been so vocal over an inconsequential opinion that they might not be willing to speak to you about things that are consequential—like Jesus.

Ultimately, in 1,000 years, no one will care whether you drive a Chevy or Ford or Nissan, but whether that person comes to Jesus will be consequential in 1,000 years.

Or, for instance, this may be a little bit less of a silly example. If you happen to be very interested in politics and you happen to be very vocal about your opinions concerning politics (and let me be clear, I’m not talking about speaking out against sinful issues that are connected to political ideas).

Someone who thinks differently than you about politics might decide to stop talking to you about politics if every conversation you have with them becomes contentious.

Someone who thinks differently than you about politics might slowly back away from your friendship if every conversation you have with them becomes an argument.

If you’re not careful, you might lose your ability to influence someone because you’ve been so vocal over an issue of politics that they might not be willing to speak to you about things that are eternal—like Jesus.

Ultimately, in 1,000 years, no one will remember who you voted for in 2024, but whether that person comes to Jesus will be consequential in 1,000 years.

There are all sorts of ways that if we aren’t careful, will cause walls to go up and prevent you from having an eternal impact on the people that you speak to.

Or, in other words, we can be clear in what we believe in a way that doesn’t cause walls to go up in such a way that people will refuse to hear the Gospel.

The key is to determine how to do it in a way that doesn’t cause those walls to go up.

Part of that happens when we start to look at unbelievers with compassion and with the image of God in mind.

Every person, regardless of whether they believe or not, has been made in the image of God—and if nothing else, the truth that people are made in the image of God ought to cause us to see them as worthy of the love, respect, and honor that the image of God deserves.

When you deal with people in light of the truth of the imago dei—the image of God—it ought to transform how you view people, how you interact with people, how you speak to people.

And, when you consider all this in light of eternity, it ought to change how you view other people, how you interact with people, and how you speak to people.

It should cause you to see unbelievers with a compassionate mindset because we were once like them.

Second, you need to allow the truths of this passage to change how you do evangelism—this ties in with the issue of the image of God and how we see other people.

If you view everyone as images of God and you recognize that they are eternal souls that have an eternal destination, it should change how you do evangelism.

It should convince you that evangelism isn’t an optional thing, but rather something that needs to happen not just because Jesus commands us to, but rather because it is the Gospel and that it teaches that Jesus saves eternally.

And so, if you think in terms of the Gospel, the fact that every person has a soul, and that people need to hear the Gospel and respond to the Gospel or they will face the eternal consequences for sin, it should do two things:

First, it should compel you to start evangelizing everyone around you as often and as quickly as possible.

Second, it should convince you that it is worth trying to break down the walls preventing people from hearing the Gospel in order for them to hear the truth.

Or, in other words:

If you aren’t participating in evangelism, you do realize you’re refusing to give people who need hope the only hope that can actually save them—instead of giving them hope, you’re withholding hope from them.

And if you are participating in evangelism, but you’re contentious, mean-hearted, unwilling to listen to others, otherwise just a wart to speak with—if you’re participating in evangelism, but you’re contributing to the building up of walls in someone’s life, you need to reconsider your approach.

Every person is made in the image of God and needs Jesus—keep this in mind when you consider your evangelistic approach.

Lastly, you need to remain humble concerning your salvation and the salvation of other people—If nothing else, this passage reminds us that our salvation is not of our own ability or work, but rather, we’ve been saved on the basis of our faith in Jesus’ ability to save us.

On occasion, Christians get a warped view of themselves and there are all sorts of reasons for this:

If they’re taken to gaining knowledge, they might puff themselves up depending on how much theology they know.

If they’re really compassionate, they might think of themselves as better than those who aren’t as compassionately minded.

Some who are really into social justice might think of themselves better than others.

And yet, the Bible is very clear that God shows no partiality between people—He never views one person as better than another.

In fact, James is clear that even for us to treat others as differently based on socio-economic constructs is sinful.

So, for us to look down on others at all would be just as sinful.

In reality, what Paul says to Titus is that we ought to treat unbelievers with kindness, perfect courtesy, gentleness; and without slander, quarreling, and disobedience because, at one time, we were also unbelievers who thought wrongly, who were lost in our sin, and without hope.

If, in your salvation, you think of yourself better than others, you need to check your heart.

If, in your knowledge of truth, you think of yourself better than others, you need to check your heart.

If, in your service (through compassion ministries or social justice issues), you think of yourself better than others, you need to check your heart.

It is not right for you as a Christian to think of yourself as better than anyone else—you need to remain humble because there is nothing good about you apart from Jesus Christ, Himself.

Someone once said that when it comes to salvation, you have contributed nothing to your salvation other than the sin which necessitated your salvation.

You need to stay humble.

Put simply, what we learn from Titus 3:1-7 is the same reminder that the Christians in Crete needed—it is a reminder that our salvation is not something that we earned, but rather something Jesus gave us and this truth ought to compel us to do all we can to call others to repentance and belief by breaking down barriers and walls, knowing that they need to respond to the Gospel just like you’ve responded to the Gospel.

It is a reminder that without Jesus, there is no hope—and as a Christian, you need to proclaim the hope of the Gospel while remembering that you are no better than an unbeliever. Rather, the only benefit that you have is that Jesus saved you from your sin.

Pastoral Prayer