Reflecting Jesus

Mirrors

For every one of us, we will end up in front of a mirror at some point in the morning. It is our chance to make sure that everything is the way it should be as we present ourselves to our family, friends, co-workers, and strangers that we meet along the way.

God teaches us that He wants our hearts and lives to be mirrors that reflect His glory and grace. Paul writes it this way to the Corinthian church:

2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB95

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Are we reflecting Jesus the way that we ought to be? This was the question that Paul was dealing with in his letter to Titus. “Titus, you’re in a tough place. Here is some advice on living extraordinary lives in the middle of a difficult country.”

Before we get back to Titus let’s go back in the Bible to the time of the patriarchs.

Divine Reflectors

In the OT there is a story about a former deceiver who becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. His name is Jacob. The story is well-known. Jacob deceives Isaac his father and steals his older brother’s birthright by making his blind father think that he is Esau. Isaac passes the birthright to Jacob, and Jacob has to flee because he knows that Esau will want him dead.

Years pass and Jacob finally realizes that he needs to return home. He also realizes that he has to face his brother who he had cheated. So, he prepares gifts to send to Esau before they will meet face to face. Cindy and I have a friend from the nation of Sri Lanka. Each time that he visited he brought a suitcase full of gifts to give to Cindy’s parents, Cindy and I, and the rest of the family. They are just simple little gifts like perfume, carved items, or candy. It is deeply engrained into Eastern customs and habits.

In fact, if you are really trying to make an impression or heal from a problem, you make it a big gift. Jacob brought a big gift, hoping it will help Esau get over his anger. So, Jacob has the gifts ready. When he finally sees Esau, he is completely surprised by Esau’s response. Esau runs to Jacob, embraces him, and kisses him. Then Jacob responds,

Genesis 33:10 (NIV) … to see your face is like seeing the face of God…

If your family has ever had problems before, you understand the powerful moment that is taking place!

What does this have to do with Uplift? Our families can be reflections of the goodness of God. Can you see similarities in this story to the parable of the Prodigal Son? Forgiveness, happiness, joy, and peace all rolled into a moment. All being seen in the life of a family.

Lives that Shine

In this letter to Titus Paul gives us attractive characteristics of the Family of God. He speaks to the older men, the older women, the young men, younger women, and to the slaves as well. I believe that the attributes that Paul encourages Titus to cultivate in the Cretan society will also draw people to Christ now.

GrandPa’s

Titus 2:2 NIV

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

Paul’s instructions are not comprehensive, but he hits on a couple of qualities that reflect the person of Christ. Probably the only term there that may be confusing is ‘temperate’ which originally meant “holding no wine” but figuratively means to have a clarity of mind and good judgment. Perhaps each of us can think of someone who demonstrates these qualities. I think we all agree that these qualities are really admirable.

At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his death, Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant told the following story: [Tell it the way he told it]

"I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player and I was havin' trouble finding the place. Getting hungry I spied an old cinder block building with a small sign out front that simply said "Restaurant."

"I pull up, go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I'm the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good, so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?" I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, "You probably won't like it here, today we're having chitlins, collard greens and black-eyed peas with cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know what chitlins are, do you?" I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas, I've probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I'm in the right place." They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back, he says, "You ain't from around here then?"

"I explain I'm the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and I'm here to find whatever that boy's name was, and he says, yeah I've heard of him, he's supposed to be pretty good. And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As I'm paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one and he told me lunch was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay.

The big man asked me if I had a photograph or some thing he could hang up to show I'd been there. I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It really wasn't that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one and shook his hand and left."

"I met the kid I was lookin' for later that afternoon and I don't remember his name but do remember I didn't think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought.

When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn't forget it. Back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, "Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had."

"Now let's go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama and I'm back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Y'all remember, (and I forget the name, but it's not important to the story), well anyway, he's got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me he's got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while I'm down there."

"Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says, "Coach, do you still want me at Alabama?" And I said, "Yes I sure do." And he says OK, he'll come. And I say, "Well son, what changed your mind?" And he said, "When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama and wasn't playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y'all met." Well, I didn't know his granddad from Adam's house cat so I asked him who his granddaddy was and he said, "You probably don't remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he's had hung in that place ever since. That picture's his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him."

"My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going to. "I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin' your word to someone."

"When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa and he's still running that place, but it looks a lot better now; and he didn't have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made Dreamland proud and I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and don't think I didn't leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football."

"I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when they're out on the road. If you remember anything else from me, remember this. It really doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable."

I don’t know if Coach Bryant knew Jesus or not, but I do know that Godly men’s faces shine like the face of God.

GrandMa’s

In the next verse, Paul addresses the older women in their church.

Titus 2:3 NIV

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

The word ‘reverent’ means to “call forth respect through age, character, or attainment”. It is a shame that our culture doesn’t value age in the way that it should. The young tend to think that their elders are ‘out of touch’ with the present world.

Why are grandparents so GRAND?

- Because grandparents are great bridge-builders. Grandparents relay an important heritage of both history and faith through the years.

- Because grandparents model great faith and share great testimonies of God’s goodness

- Because grandparents have far reaching influence. I wish that we lived near our grandchildren but it does my heart good to know that my grandkids love to see their great-grandparents and look forward to being in their home.

Relationships like these transcend blood lines. To the older women in our congregation, younger women are looking for mentors who will model Godly character. As older women live their lives reverently, I know that their faces shine like the face of God.

Ladies

Paul turns his attention in the next 5 verses to women and men of ages 20 to, let’s say, 40. I think this group of people are the most confused today in our society. Kids know to be kids, and grandparents know to be grandparents. But, what does it mean to be a young man or woman in today’s society? He begins with the ladies…

Titus 2:4–5 NIV

Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

So, he says to be loving, self-controlled, pure, industrious, kind, and “subject to their husbands” (or, to recognize the husband as the head of the family). All of this so that it reflects positively on God. Unfortunately, our society has created an almost opposite picture of a young lady.

When Marabel Morgan’s book, The Total Woman, was at the peak of its popularity, The Wittenberg Door ran a cartoon of a frazzled Christian woman with her hair in rollers and her feet in a basin of warm water and Epsom Salt. The cartoon was captioned, “The Totaled Woman.” For many, that is the negative image of a submissive wife.

As our families adopt the Biblical image of a young woman, our neighbors will see young women whose faces shine like the face of God.

Men

Now guys, listen up! You have an expectation to shine for God as well.

Titus 2:6–8 NIV

Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

Young men, you are instructed to be self-controlled, to do good, to show integrity, and control your tongues. In ‘everything’ you are told to set an example. This principle is illustrated in the story of St. Francis who told one of his young friars "Let us go down to the village and preach to the people." As they went to the village, they stopped to talk to the men they met along the way and (stopped for coffee) with several families. Francis stopped to play with the children and exchanged a greeting with the passers-by. As they turned to go home the stupefied apprentice said, ‘But when do we preach?’ Francis smiled and replied, ‘Preach? Every step we took, every word we spoke, every action we did, has been a sermon.’

Well, maybe that story was for minister’s in training, but with every contact you make, every word you say to your children, every water cooler conversation, and every story you tell about your weekend can cause your face to shine for Christ.

Slaves

We often stop paying attention when we see or hear the word ‘slaves’. But the Bible has some tremendous advice for all of us if we will simply listen. Afterall, we all are subject to our bosses, chiefs, principals, managers, and CEO’s

Titus 2:9–10 NIV

Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

People are watching us…

Dr. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies… aware that throughout the world Muslims have been turning to Christ, was curious about the reasons why -- especially in countries where the cost of converting is so high. To find the answer, he created a detailed questionnaire. Over a 16-year period, some 750 Muslims from 30 countries filled it out -- and the results are eye-opening. The number one reason Muslim converts listed for their decision to follow Christ was the lifestyle of the Christians among them.

As Woodberry, Russell Shubin, and G. Marks write in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Muslim converts noted that "there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians" they knew. An Egyptian convert contrasted the love shown by Christians "with the unloving treatment of Muslim students and faculty he encountered at a university in Medina." Other converts were impressed that "Christians treat women as equals" and enjoy loving marriages. And poor Muslims observed that "the expatriate Christian workers they knew had adopted, contrary to their expectations, a simple lifestyle." They wore locally made clothes and abstained from pork and alcohol, so as not to offend Muslim neighbors.

Muslims are being converted to Christ just by lifestyle evangelism. I don’t know what our nation will look like in 2021, 2061, or 2100 (if the Lord tarries), but I do know that regardless of the situation, we are still supposed to be reflectors of Jesus Christ!

We Shine Brightest When Jesus Changes Our Hearts

Let’s go back to the story of Jacob. Now, the night before they meet, Jacob has a dream where he wrestles with a man all night long. Somewhere in the fighting he realizes that this person is special, an angel or God Himself. Jacob refused to let him go and asked that the man bless him. The man asked Jacob, “What’s your name?”

Now, we know that God would know Jacob’s name; so, why ask? Remember how Jacob deceived his earthly father by lying and telling his father that his name was Esau? This time, however, Jacob tells the truth and receives a blessing. Jacob has changed.

Why would Esau a day later forgive his brother? Jacob had betrayed him. He had cheated him. But then Esau says that he sees in Jacob the face of God. What changed? Jacob had. This is what we need to understand. Jacob saw his own heart.

We are the best reflectors of the goodness of God when we see our own hearts, repent, and allow Holy Spirit to establish the characteristics of God in our lives. Then, the world, when it looks at our lives will say as Esau did, “to see your face is to see the face of God.”