Sunday Teaching 10/11 Titus

Sunday Teaching on Titus 1:1-4

Hey there, I’m Tony Graffanino with UPI and I’ll be leading off our weekly Sunday teaching series as we go through Paul’s letter to Titus. I’ll be back again on Wednesday with a brief devotional based on today’s teaching.

Now we know that Paul wrote this letter to Titus towards the latter part of his life and he’s writing to Titus whom he calls his “true child” or son, in the faith that they share. We also know that Titus was a companion of Paul’s on some of his missionary trips.

Now Titus was a Greek Gentile, which means he was a non-Jew, and therefore, he would not have been circumcised, which is a Jewish requirement. So, he accompanied Paul to Jerusalem in Acts 15 for the Jerusalem council, that in part, was in regards to circumcision. Titus would have been a prime example of a true Gentile Christian who had the Holy Spirit and yet was not circumcised.

Titus is also mentioned in Galatians 2, 2 Corinthians chapters 2, 7 and again in chapter 8 if you want to read more about him.

As Paul writes, Titus is currently on the Island of Crete, were Paul had left him, and Paul is writing to him to address the issues of false teachers, the organization of the church including what would be called elders and deacons, the qualifications for such offices, and his intent to preserve and pass on the apostolic teaching that he received from Jesus.

Let’s now look at Titus 1, verses 1-4

Titus 1:1–4 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, 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.

Paul in verse 1 uses two words to describe how he views himself that we are going to briefly look at.

The first one is servant, or some translations have slave, or bond servant. What this means is that Paul is a willing slave of God, a willing servant, not being forced or under compulsion, but it’s his desire to faithfully serve the Lord.

The second word is apostle. When I see this word I think of a messenger and representative, like an ambassador, one who is selected by Jesus, on a mission for Jesus, with a message from Jesus, or about Jesus and the kingdom.

So how does Paul view this mission and this message? He views it as crucial, he writes it’s for the “sake of the faith of God’s people.”

Paul’s desire is for them to know the truth, not just so that they can “know” more information in their heads, but so that their knowledge of the truth transforms their hearts and leads to godly living.

For most being a Christian means learning more about Jesus and the Bible, and not sinning as much.

Right, if we were to be honest we think, accept Jesus and then don’t screw it up. But there’s so much more to the Christian life than that.

Paul says here that part of our life’s objective as a Christian is to live godly lives for all to see, especially those who don’t believe as we do.

To Paul, what we know, what we experience with God, what we truly believe will impact how we live.

Our beliefs will naturally affect and influence our behaviors.

This takes us to last thing in this section that I want to look.

It’s a word in verse 3 that pertains to Paul and his message, and that’s the word entrusted.

We don’t often use this word but if we do, we don’t use it casually. We entrust things of great value and we entrust them to people who have proven to be worthy of our trust.

It’s like deciding who we will leave our children to, or anything else of great value. Who we will choose that is worthy of being entrusted with something so precious.

Paul knows that the truth, the Gospel message he possesses and proclaims, has great value and he also knows that it has been entrusted to him by Jesus.

It’s his desire to protect it, of course, but also to proclaim it, this valuable message is to be shared, it’s for all to hear, not for Paul to keep to himself.

So, as I wrap up, my question to you is this;

Do you view yourself the same way Paul viewed himself, as a willing servant who’s been sent on a mission with a message that has been entrusted to you by Jesus?

Come back on Wednesday where I’ll have a brief thought in regards to this question and this section of scripture.

I’m Tony Graffanino with UPI, thanks for tuning in. God Bless