Titus 1:1-4- Grace and Peace to You
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Welcome! So good to have everyone- we believe that you are here for a reason. Students- we have been praying for you since last year- even if this is your first sunday! And we are GLAD that you are here. YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!
Illini Bash schedule- after service we will get the grill going and get food going- so stick around and we’ll be eating before you know it- we have burgers, hot dogs, brats, Ribs, sno-kones and more! You WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT! Also- enter the giveaways by filling out a connect card physcially, or on our linktree! (It is the button that says “Let’s hang out”). We have 3 gift cards that we are giving out today! And if you did not get a welcome gift, come see me or any of the welcome team after service!
Why Titus?
Why Titus?
My story with Titus- as I prayed about what to do with my life it was THIS BOOK that God used to call me into pastoral ministry.
Main Point: God has given Grace and Peace through Jesus
Main Point: God has given Grace and Peace through Jesus
Body
Body
As we dive into Titus, let’s jump in with some context. Titus is a short epistle that Paul wrote to a man named Titus.
Titus is one of three epistles that are sometimes grouped together as a “pastoral epistle” which can be described as Paul sending pastoral advice and wisdom to someone that he has discipled.
It was not just sent to Titus though. Titus was styled as something called a “Mandate Letter.”
“In terms of genre, Titus and 1 Timothy may both be thought of as mandate letters, analogous to epistles from Greco-Roman rulers to newly appointed delegates in districts or provinces. Formally addressed to individuals, they nevertheless were more public in character and were intended to be read widely.”- Craig Blomberg
Paul wrote Titus and he wrote it to Titus first with the intention that this letter would be circulated widely.
Titus finds himself on the island of Crete when he receives this letter. Paul is on Crete in Acts 27.
This letter is written towards the end of Paul’s life; likely between 63-67 A.D. Paul would have written this letter after his first Roman imprisonment.
For a number of reasons, I’d suggest that it was written closer to 63 A.D.
The book of Titus has a clear purpose statement. We find it in Titus 1:5. We’ll talk about it more next week, but for now, I just want to draw our attention to it for a brief minute.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.
Paul has sent Titus to Crete for a very specific purpose.
he is to SET RIGHT WHAT WAS LEFT UNDONE. The word used here is literally talking about what is UNFINISHED OR LACKING.
Something is wrong with the churches on Crete. And so Paul sends Titus to Crete to SET THINGS RIGHT- he is to go and put things in order that are OUT OF ORDER!
Titus is on Crete to do Church Revitalization. He’s there to help churches REFOCUS ON WHAT GOD HAS CALLED THEM TO DO!
The problems that face the Cretans are pretty simple. Titus 1:12
12 One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Paul is quoting Epimenides who wrote in the 6th Century B.C. This became how the island of Crete was known.
It was talked about as a “resort of robbers and pirates” and the name of the island was used to describe lying!
Crete was seen as a BAD place to go! It was SIN ISLAND in a lot of ways.
And as we’ll see, one of the biggest problems facing the Cretans is that they have not left sin behind!
They claim Jesus, but they DON’T FOLLOW JESUS IN THEIR ACTIONS!
The other issue that they face is attacks from the Judaizers who denied the importance of Jesus in salvation- instead wanting new believers to live under the Old Covenant’s law!
So as we walk through this series, we are going to see how Paul instructs Titus to put things into order- especially in three areas- Healthy Churches, Healthy Christians, and HEALTHY GOSPEL- or helping people TRULY UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL!
One other thing that I want you to keep an eye on as we walk through Titus is how Paul emphasizes JESUS BEING OUR SAVIOR!
So that’s some basic background of Titus. Let’s dive into Titus 1:1-4.
Titus 1:1
Titus 1:1
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness,
Paul starts off this epistle with an extended introduction in Titus where he essentially shares his PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT. Paul starts his introduction by introducing himself and even in this introduction there is a takeaway for us!
Paul says that he is “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
Notice hwat Paul doesn’t say- he doesn’t say, “Hey Titus, it’s me, Paul. I’m a superhero of the Church, writer of so many letters, living legend.”
Instead he says, “I’m PAUL A SERVANT OF GOD!”
He doesn’t even call himself THE servant of God, or the foremost of servants. He calls himself A servant of God!
The word he uses for servant is Doulos. Doulos was used to talk about servants, more specifically, indentured servants.
Well, guess what- if we follow Christ, then we are all SERVANTS OF GOD!
And like Paul, when we follow God, we are to give up control of our lives and instead let GOD control our lives!
We are to be SERVANTS OF GOD!
Paul then talks about how he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is really a chance for him to remind Titus and the other readers about his own story.
See, Paul has physically seen Jesus!
In Acts 9, he is going to Damascus to persecute Christians. And all of a sudden, Paul is blinded by a bright light- the Glory of God- and Jesus rebukes him for his actions!
Paul responds to Jesus and repents- or does a complete 180 from his sin and FOLLOWS JESUS!
Paul then lives as a servant of GOD AND AS AN APOSTLE!
He has devoted his life to SERVING GOD AND TO SHARING THE GOSPEL!
So Paul, is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ- for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.
In verses 1-3, Paul is describing the ENTIRE PURPOSE OF HIS MINISTRY! He is telling Titus THE GOALS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN HIM, PAUL, IN MINISTRY!
And here, Paul tells Titus that he writes this letter for the faith of those who are saved and for their knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness.
Let’s talk about these phrases.
Paul writes first to encourage the faith of those who are saved.
He is writing to cheer them on. He knows the challenges of Crete- both with the culture, but also the literal physical challenges of sharing the Gospel on Crete- which is a highly mountainous island.
So, Paul writes to encourage them. He calls on them not to quit or give up, but to stand strong!
Second, Paul is writing to help encourage them into a deeper knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness.
This word “leads” could also be translated “promotes.”
That means that another way to see this is that Paul is writing to instruct the Cretans so that they walk in Godliness!
Paul is showing them what it means to live a Godly life EVEN IN THE MIDST OF THIS DARK, spiritually LOST island!
And remember Cornerstone Family, Paul isn’t just writing this for Titus- he’s writing it for a larger audience that includes us.
He’s writing to ENCOURAGE OUR FIATH AND TO ENCOURAGE US TO KNOW AND WALK IN GODLINESS EVEN IN THE FACE OF CHALLENGES AND DARKNESS!
Paul is writing to help people know God more- and that’s why we gather as a church! Our Mission is to Connect People with Jesus! We want to help non-believers meet Jesus for the first time- and we want to help believers walk closer to God AND WALK IN GODLINESS!
If you want to WALK WITH GOD, then TITUS IS A BOOK FOR YOU!
And if you want to WALK WITH GOD- then Cornerstone is a CHURCH FOR YOU!
That’s what we want to do! That’s our MISSION AND OUR HEARTBEAT!
Titus 1:2
Titus 1:2
Paul keeps this train of thought going in Titus 1:2.
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Paul tells us that Godliness and even FAITH comes from THIS HOPE!
And what is this hope?
Paul tells us that godliness comes from the HOPE of ETERNAL LIFE!
Let me encourage you- Godliness doesn’t come from ourselves.
Godliness comes from our HOPE IN OUR FUTURE!
Not as in, “Someday I’ll get a great job,” but instead as “I WILL SPEND ETERNITY WITH MY CREATOR!”
Our hope comes from our knowledge of ETERNAL LIFE AND ETERNAL LIFE IS FROM GOD!
Paul tells us that God PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE!
And this is true! But Paul also gives us assurance. Paul reminds us that God cannot lie!
The Cretans can lie. They lie all the time! But GOD? God WILL NEVER LIE!
When God says that we will be saved, we will be saved. When God says that we will have eternal life, we will have eternal life!
God NEVER LIES!
And this is GREAT NEWS!
People around us lie. The CRETANS LIED! I mean, take a second and see this contrast- Titus is serving on a island with such a bad reputation of lying that its name is literally used to TALK ABOUT LYING!
And here’s Paul reminding Titus that UNLIKE THE CRETANS, GOD WILL NEVER LIE!
Hear this today- GOD WILL NEVER LIE TO YOU!
God will never cheat you, God will never mislead you, God will never BETRAY YOU!
Instead of lying to you, God has promised you something beautiful that will be true- God has promised you eternal life IF YOU JUST KNOW HIS SON- Jesus!
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That’s great news! And that’s the news that we need!
We need that promise! We need to know that despite our sin earning us death- and we have ALL SINNED, or done wrong in God’s PERFECT, HOLY EYES- despite this- GOD HAS GIVEN US ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!
And once again- what did Paul just remind us of? GOD WILL NEVER LIE!
So if you are here today and you don’t know Jesus personally, let me encourage you- GOD DOES NOT LIE AND GOD HAS TOLD US HOW TO BE SAVED!
God has give you hope- even though we are all sinners who DESERVE DEATH, we have been given a gift- ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS!
All we need to do is Romans 10:9-10
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
Believe and CONFESS! DO THAT TODAY!
Titus 1:3
Titus 1:3
3 In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior:
Paul writes this third verse continuing with this idea of WHY HE IS WRITING!
Paul is writing not because he feels like it, BUT BECAUSE GOD TOLD HIM TO!
God has entrusted Paul with THIS MESSAGE!
In Titus, we are going to see how we should look at Church, our own walk with God and our lives, but throughout, we are going to be reminded of the most important message- the message that Paul just gave us- the message of SALVATION THROUGH JESUS!
And friends, this verse matters a lot- because we are not studying Paul’s opinions as we study Titus, we are studying the WORD OF GOD- we are studying what GOD SAYS!
Titus 1:4
Titus 1:4
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith.
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
In verse 4, Paul officially greets Titus. And he does so by calling Titus his TRUE SON IN OUR COMMON FAITH!
Let me be clear- although this letter is not only addressed to Titus, understanding who Titus is really matters.
Titus is talked about in Galatians 2:3, Acts 15, and in 2 Corinthians.
In Galatians 2:3, we find out that Titus traveled to Jerusalem in Acts 15. In 2 Corinthians we see that Paul sends Titus to deliver the letter to the church in Corinth AND to minister to them!
Paul refers to Titus as HIS BROTHER in 2 Corinthians 2:13. This is not referring to physically being brothers, but is instead about their close spiritual bond as FELLOW BELIEVERS!
I love this. Because Paul emphasizes this familial nature of the church.
And that’s really important because we see in Galatians 2:3 that Titus is a gentile.
Paul is the pharisee, the Jew of Jews, the MAN under the Old Covenant and then there is Titus, the gentile.
And yet, they are no longer separated. They are not longer APART from each other.
Instead, Paul refers to Titus as his brother and his TRUE SON- which references Paul’s relationship with Titus discipling him and mentoring him- and potentially even having shared the gospel with Titus in the first place!
This is Colossians 3:11 lived out!
11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
And I want to make this point clear- as a church, we are a family and if you are new here with us today, I want to invite you INTO OUR FAMILY!
We want to welcome you, we want to love you and we believe it is NO ACCIDENT THAT GOD BROUGHT YOU HERE TODAY!
We truly believe that GOD BROUGHT YOU HERE TODAY, not just random luck, or free food!
We believe that God brought you here and we WANT YOU TO BE A PART OF OUR FAMILY!
Paul ends his introduction saying, “Grace and Peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.”
Paul opens Titus by saying this and he ends it in Titus 3:15 saying something very similar.
15 All those who are with me send you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with all of you.
So why does that matter? It matters because this is what Paul wants Titus to hang onto as he serves on Crete.
As he serves in this dark place, Paul wants Titus to remember that God’s GRACE AND PEACE ARE WITH HIM!”
Let’s take a minute and just talk about these- This word for grace- χάρις can also mean favor.
Paul is saying, “Titus, may God’s FAVOR BE UPON YOU!”
And then Paul also blesses Titus by saying, “MAY GOD’S PEACE BE ON YOU!”
In other words, May God give you favor and rest.
But Paul doesn’t just stop there- he reminds Titus that these can only come from GOD THE FATHER and CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR!
Grace and peace don’t come from anything we’ve done, they come from GOD THE FATHE RNAD FROM OUR SAVIOR!
And notice what Paul says there- CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR!
There’s that emphasis again, just like in verses 1 and 3! Paul is emphasizing that JESUS IS SAVIOR!
Even though there’s a lot of issues in Crete, Paul wants to make sure that the first thing is first- WE ARE SAVED BY FAITH IN JESUS AND JESUS’S WORK FOR US ON THE CROSS BECAUSE JESUS IS SAVIOR!
Application
Application
Know God
Know God
The first thing that we see in Titus 1 is that we need to KNOW GOD!
That’s what Paul starts off with in verse 1! He writes to encourage believers and part of that is instructing believers in the KNOWLEDGE FO THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO GODLINESS!
So we need to KNOW GOD! Godliness is living like God wants you to- it’s having thoughts, actions, words, that REFLECT GOD!
That’s how Paul starts this epistle- KNOW GOD! So how do we know God?
I want to give us 3 practical ways that we can KNOW GOD!
First, Read the Bible!
The Bible is God’s word- what better way to get to KNOW GOD than to READ GOD’S WORD!
But don’t have to do this by yourself. We’d love to meet up with you and read the Bible.
Here’s what I want to encourage you to do- come talk to me, or fill out our connect card that you can access from the QR code and we will be glad to meet up with you and read the Bible with you! (At Cornerstone we are all about Discipleship and we want to walk WITH YOU in your faith!)
If you don’t have a Bible, we’d love to give you one!
The best way to KNOW GOD is to BE IN GOD’S WORD!
Second, Come to Church!
We gather here each week to GLORIFY GOD and to KNOW GOD DEEPER!
That’s our goal! Each week we want to grow CLOSER TO GOD!
So let me encourage you- COME TO CHURCH AND LET’S GROW IN OUR WALK WITH GOD TOGETHER!
Third, Join a Community Group!
Monday afternoons, Tuesday and Thursday and we are going to have one for college and career- let us know YOUR schedule!
Know Grace and Peace
Know Grace and Peace
As this semester starts up, as you go back to school, as the seasons change- HAVE GRACE AND PEACE!
Know God’s GRACE!
GOSPEL! Reference back to Matthew 11:28-30 and Romans 6:23
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Know God’s Peace!
No matter what you face, trust God. Walk with God. Lean into God!
Hear me on this- God’s peace is FAR LARGER AND FAR SUPERIOR TO ANY SITUATION THAT YOU WILL FACE!
It is SUFFICIENT!
Are you worried about a test? A relationship? Something at work?
KNOW GOD’S PEACE!
Know God’s peace and let it transform you! Let God put you at peace and let GOD comfort you!
PREACH IT! (LET THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVE!)
Know Your Mission
Know Your Mission
(this is Paul talking about HIS MISSION! What is ours? GC!)
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
JOIN US AS WE GO EVERY DAY AND LIVE THIS OUT! JOIN US AS WE REACH OUR COMMUNITY!
STUDENTS- we want to walk with you and support you as you reach your friends and as you help them understand the GLORIOUS TRUTH OF GOD’S GRACE AND PEACE AND SALVATION!
(LET THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVE!)