Devoted to Good Works
Titus: Right Doctrine, Right Living • Sermon • Submitted
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Recap:
Recap:
A testimony is:
A Witness; a stamens made to establish fact
Our Testimony is an important of out lives with Christ:
Because of the truth that exists in the scriptures, truths of who we are in Christ.
We are regenerated, washed clean, justified because of our faith in Jesus.
When we think about these things, it should bring us back to what and where we were saved from!
As those who were foolish
As ones who were disobedient
As ones who were led astray
As ones who were slaves to our passions
As those who passed our day’s in malice
As those who were hating others and hated
This is who we were but not who we are now!
We are new creatures who have been given the incredible task, the important task, the task the impacts eternity — The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
And this task requires that we as his followers have good testimony!
So Paul gives us some attributes of a Good testimony:
Be submissive to rulers and authorities, being obedient
Ready for every Good workSpeaking no evil of anyone
Avoid quarellingbe gentile Show perfect courtesy towards all people
I know that there are a lot more things that we need to consider from the Scriptures when it comes to our testimony but this isn’t a bad start for living right before our fellow man, who need Jesus!
When it comes to our lives with Jesus Christ it could possible be that the thing that this world has as evidence as to the truth of the Gospel is our godly lives!
A life that is changed by the Gospel reveals and displays the amazing love and power of God
A life that is godly displays the truth of the Scriptures
A Godly life is a powerful tool as we display the grace of God to a lost world in need of Jseus
So the question is this morning:
Why are there so many times that we are willing to compromise, make exceptions, and sometimes flat out walk away from a Godly life?
There are many things that can hinder a Godly life in Chirst:
Sin
When we are actively engaging in willful deliberate sin, we cut ourselves off from the fellowship we have with God!
When we cut our fellowship with God becaues we choose sin over God then we in turn invite the chastisement of God into our lives
Sin cannot and will not bring about any form of Godliness
People
Who we surround ourselves with as followers of Chirst can really hinder our testimony before men
It is far easier to be pulled down to a level and place that God never intended for us to be, then it is for us to pull people out of the muck and mire
As believers we need to surround ourselves with believers who are going edify, build up, and encourage us as Christians
Attitudes:
Our attitude towards life reveals a heart towards God
If we have a bad attitude it means that you are not allowing God to have His rightful place in your life
I heard a preacher say if Jesus isn’t Lord of your heart and life then you will only be going through the motions and losing the rewards that He desires for you to have.
Question:
Why not choose Holiness over the carnality and temptations that would only pull us away from Christ?
The Fruit of Good Works!
The Fruit of Good Works!
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.
As we thinkn about all that Titus has just been told by the Apostle Paul, Paul wants to emphasize that these things are trustworthy!
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
This was a formula used by Paul to illustrate and emphasize the importance of Biblical trugh tha every believer shoudl not only be aware of but pursuing in their lives with Jesus!
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,
It is God’s:
Goodness
Lovingkindness
God’s Mercy
Through faith in Christ that we are washed clean, made new through the Power fo the idwelling Holy Spirit,
Whom we now have because Christ poured the Spirit out on all who believe!
These things are trustworthy and worthy of our attention!
You see Paul was not just throwing out some theological ideas and concepts here!
No! Paul was pouring out the truth of sound doctrine, and wanted not only Titus to take note but all who have believed!
Why? Why does God want us to take note of such things and pay such careful attention to them?
It is because he wants us to be devoted to good works!
This emphasis comes at the end of this letter to Titus, and thus Paul emphasis, and desires for the church in Crete is that they would heed and do the things here that Paul instructs Titus in. Namely devotion to good works!
Devote:
Greek: Proistasthai - Lead; rule over; manage
Sense: To be preeminent - to be ahead of others, or be the first
What Paul is telling us here is that good works should be a primary concern and pursuit of the believer!
They should be more important to us that many other things in our lives
They should be what we think about and prepare our days for
To be deovoted to something means we are committed to them!
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
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.
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Good works are not to be neglected by those who follow Chirst
Never shoudl the believer have or maintain the attitude that someone else can do those, that someone else shoudl be responsible for doign the good works that God has before ordained!
Nor should we assume that good works are only works that pertain and are related to the ministries of the Local church.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: How to Have a Healthy Church (Titus 2–3)
“Good works” do not necessarily mean religious works or church work. It is fine to work at church, sing in the choir, and hold an office; but it is also good to serve our unsaved neighbors, to be helpful in the community, and to have a reputation for assisting those in need. Baby-sitting to relieve a harassed young mother is just as much a spiritual work as passing out a Gospel tract. The best way a local church has to witness to the lost is through the sacrificial service of its members.
Things to avoid:
Things to avoid:
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
When it comes to church life, which is life lived among and with other believers, there is the reality that we are not always going to see eye to eye on everythgin that happens among the people of God
But I want to emphasize here a coupel of things
We are called to pursue, know, and apply sound Doctrine
Doctrine is what unites true believers
John 17 17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Doctrine if rightly understood and rightly applied will always bring about unity and not division among the members of the Body of Christ.
So Titus is told there shoudl be certain things to be avoided among the church that only bring about divisions and strife in the Body!
Foolish Contoversies:
Foolish Contoversies:
Foolish:
Greek: moros - foolsih; Stupid; fool
Sense: Devoid of wisdom, or good sense, or sound judgment
Controveries:
Greek: zetesis - Debate; dispute; controversy
Sense: Dispute - a disagreement or argument over something important
There are needful questions to be discussed and cleared, such as make for improvement in useful knowledge; but idle and foolish enquiries, tending neither to God’s glory nor the edification of men, must be shunned. Some may have a show of wisdom, but are vain, as many among the Jewish doctors, as well as of later schoolmen, who abound with questions of no moment or use to faith or practice; avoid these.
The idea here is that there are things that are not really that important for much of anything and there argueing about things that don’t matter for much is a fruitless task!
There are important things that we need to be focused on
There are things that are of upmost importance for the church to be concerned about
Genealogies
Genealogies
genealogies (of the gods, say some, that the heathen poets made such noise about; or rather those that the Jews were so curious in): some lawful and useful enquiries might be made into these things, to see the fulfilling of the scriptures in some cases, and especially in the descent of Christ the Messiah; but all that served to pomp only, and to feed vanity, in boasting of a long pedigree, and much more such as the Jewish teachers were ready to busy themselves in and trouble their hearers with, even since Christ had come, and that distinction of families and tribes had been taken away, as if they would build again that policy which now is abolished, these Titus must withstand as foolish and vain
Dissensions and Quarrels About the Law
Dissensions and Quarrels About the Law
Dissensions:
Greek: Eris - Strife; Contention
Sense: Stife, Conflict - bitter conflict; heated often violent dissension
There were those among the church in Crete that would have the observance of moasic law and ritual upheld in the church.
Why?
After the church had come, all the disctinctions and values that Jews had put on the lineages and tribes, and prestige associated with both were gone
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
For they are unprofitable and worthless
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
The law no longer has a place in the life of a believer as a means by which righteousness can be attained!
Our righteousness now comes from Christ
Our righteousness is by faith
We are dead to the law and married to another who is Christ.
Because these things are unprofitable for the life of a believer they shoudl be avoided and quieted at the every turn!
The only thing that comes from arguments like this one is legalism
I believe that Paul wants to contrast this that is unporfitable with that which is profitable!
Stirring up Division
Stirring up Division
When it comes to the church striving together in sound doctrine, working and and towards unity, there is a sureity that there will be those who will come desring to disrupt a unifed, Bible Literate, effective church!
Some will bring in heretical teaching
Some will be heritics themselvse
Either way the goal of our enemy in deployind and using heresy and heritics in the church it to brign about division among the ranks!
Division is a powerful tool for the enemy:
Because a divided church is an ineffective church!
How to Handle Divisive People in the church:
Warn them!
Warn them!
" after warning him once and then twice”
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Have nothing to do with sucha one
Have nothing to do with sucha one
It becomes clear that if an individual does not want to cease his behavior that causes division that the divisive person shoudl no longer be allowed to enjoy the fellowship that come from being apart of the body of Christ
Their teachings are not alligned with the truth
Their hearts and attitudes are unbiblical
They have no desire to be used of God in a Biblical and fruit bearing way!
Why so harsh?
This person is warped
Warped:
Greek: ekstrepho - perveryt
Sense: to be perverse (depraved) - to be or become actively deviating from what is considered moral, right, proper and good.
This person is sinful
Found in violation/violating God’s divine law
This person is self-condemned
Those who will not be reclaimed by admonitions, but are obstinate in their sins and errors, are subverted and self-condemned; they inflict that punishment upon themselves which the governors of the church should inflict upon them: they throw themselves out of the church, and throw off its communion, and so are self-condemned.
When it comes to the teaching of sound doctrine, the application of said doctrine, and the unity of the church in Doctrine and Good Works, there is nothing the church should be willing to do or not do for that matter that would compromise the integrity of the church’s message and mission.
We hold within our hands this morning God’s most precious gift to mankind, the trugh concerning eternal life!
We are entrusted to preach and teach it faithfully
We are empowered to defend and keep it with integrity
We are tasked with rooting out the enemies of the Gospel within the church and having nothing to do with anyone that could compromise the mission of the church.
Closing Thoughts
Closing Thoughts
When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.
Grace be with you all.