Witnessing 101: the What Why and How

Good morning! It is a pleasure to be able to speak to you this morning. For the last few months some of us bible college students have had the pleasure of walking through the book of Titus together with you. We’re going to be looking again at Titus today, and finishing up our journey through it in chapter 3.

At the beginning of October Katie preached on Titus 1, and helped us to understand how the people in the Cretan church were to live separate from the world. They needed to live in the light of Christ, and not the darkness of the world. She also set the groundwork for context of our entire series: Crete was a place that was full of sin, with people who were liars, lovers of themselves, involved in debauchery, drunkards, and the list goes on. These people were living the antithesis of the christian life! Titus 1 is about “being the contrast to this world” as Vincent put it. Not in darkness, but in light.

Then at the end of October, Vincent continued with chapter 2, focusing on the body of the church as a whole. He asked the question “what are the responsibilities of the church?” Titus two is about how the people of the church should live, and what they should teach. We are to live liberated lives and show others what it means to walk in a liberated life.

Today, we’re going to be journeying through chapter 3 of Titus - the final chapter in this book. Chapter 3 has a specific focus on the church and the world. I’ve titled this sermon Witnessing 101: the what, why, and how of our witness. This is because Paul focuses on our witness, showing us what we should do, how we should do it, and why we have this character in the first place. What I want us to grasp today is that

Our witness should be characterized by selfless love for others, as our response to God’s mercy and grace.

We need to let God’s transforming love shine through us. This love that shines through us an is exhibited to the world not of our own good works or abilities, but rather of the holy spirit's transforming work inside of us that is made possible by Christ sacrifice. By the letting Christ’s love that transformed us shine through we are giving the world a glimpse and a taste on what is available to every person salvation through Jesus Christ.

If you will turn in your bibles with me to Titus 3, we will read through the passage together before diving in.

Titus 3 ESV

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 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. 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, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 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. 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 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.

So, what is it that Paul teaches us should characterize our witness, how should it be displayed, and what is the driving force behind this character? Well, I'm so glad you asked! Let's start with what should characterize our witness.

The What - Love for Others (Titus 3:1-2)

Verses 1 and 2 begin with a reminder to be submissive to rulers and authorities. The Cretans should be obedient, even-tempered and gentle.

What does Paul teach our witness to rulers and authorities should embody? Love demonstrated in obedience and submissivenes. The Cornerstone Commentary notes that this directive from Paul may be to help distinguish the believers from the unruly masses. It could also be that false teachers had adopted an unruly way, and Paul wished to correct their behaviour. while the latter is most likely the case, there is an overarching principle: Christians set themselves apart in the way they conducts themselves with the government.

We live today in a world where anti-authority ideals permeate our culture. If we look back over the last almost two years to the start of COVID, how many people - perhaps some of us - have spoken out against government regulations, masking mandates, vaccine policies and much more. To be sure, there is a place for healthy debate and the government should be held accountable for how it acts. However, Paul tells the Cretans to be obedient and submissive. Ouch! If he were to write to us today and write these words, how many of us would find ourselves struggling to obey them? I know I would. Yet when we tarnish our witness of Him with disobedient, disrespectful and harsh words and actions, the people of this world have a hard time seeing Christ. The gentle and respectful attitude toward our authorities that Paul commands sets the believer apart, and is a part of our witness of Christ’s love to the world.

However, Paul makes it clear that the love of Christ we demonstrate to rulers and authorities through selflessness and humility should actually be shown to all people. Basically,

Paul wants the believers to treat everyone this way!

The Greek word πᾶς (pas) translated “perfect” in the ESV actually means all or every. Paul backs this up by stating that this expression of curtesy, gentleness, or even-temperedness should be extended to all people. Every person - big or small, black or white, male or female, should be treated with the same selfless attitude that Paul talks about in verse one and the beginning of verse two. To be selfless means to be more concerned about someone else’s needs than your own. This seems such an extraordinary thing to show to all people! In some ways, it’s easy to simply be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities - in some cases then their lives depended on it! Now, our livelihoods at least are dependant on following the law and its agents. If you break the law, there are consequences, and rightly so! So it follows that you would at least most of the time want to submit to rulers and authorities. But to actively place others ahead of ourselves? Must we really be selfless to all people?? What about that guy who cut me off in traffic this morning? What about that co-worker who didn’t do their job and I had extra stuff to do because of them? What about them?

At the end of our men’s ministry service at the Boyle Street Mission, as we were about to drive away, a man came up to Pastor Naomi’s car and asked for money for breakfast. When Pastor Naomi explained that we could not give him any money, but we had just finished handing out some stuff at the mission, he responded quite gruffly with “I hope you’re happy!” He then came to my car and asked the same. We only had water, which he turned down. He then proceeded to wander into the middle of traffic, block the turning lane, and ask other people. Because of this, I missed the light and blocked four lanes of traffic. Should I show selflessness to him as well?? He can’t do anything for me most likely, and he was quite rude to myself and others in our group! Should I show selflessness to him?

The answer is yes, I should. And this brings us to our second point:

The Why - Jesus & the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:3-8a)

The “why” behind our this teaching is simply: because God saved us, not because were were so great, but because God is! We do not demonstrate love to others to make us look good, but rather to testify to the transforming work with the Holy Spirit made possible by the loving sacrifice of Christ.

In verses three through eight, Paul switches from teaching on what characterizes our witness to focusing on the why behind these characteristics. Paul starts by reminding us who we were before Christ. We were once led astray, lost, wicked, and foolish. We were disobedient and hating others. Yet as Paul says, it was only by the “goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior” that we are saved. Our salvation is not a work of ourselves, but rather it is through God’s great mercy and grace! For, as Romans 5:8 says,

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We are called children of God because God was and is good, even when we were not. Thus through Christ’s loving sacrifice and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed into a new creation. We find in verses three through eight one of the most straightforward presentations of the gospel message. Why did Paul put this here? His point in this section is to show that the love that should power our witness is not meant to make us look good but rather to point others back to Christ and His love for them.

I get a picture in my mind of a sign on a signpost pointing the way for travellers. Have you ever seen those signs on the side of the highway that show accommodations or maybe it's the food with the utensils or maybe it's gas. These icons all point to something that's inside the city. In the same way we are beacon and an icon of Christ transforming love. It all points to Christ people it's not about us and never was about us it's all about Christ.

I don't think there's a way that I could stress this enough to you but to be frank, if what we are doing and our witness points back to us and only us we're doing it wrong! When we read this passage I believe what our hearts should be asking is “what is my motive?” Is your motive to serve you? It can be hard to check pride at the door to check your own selfish nature at the door, especially when you're serving people and doing good for other people you love it when you get the praise I know I do. But if that is the reason for loving others then can I implore you right now just stop it. Just stop don't go any further. This is pride this is not love. And if it points back to you and only you people will be disappointed. Leaders often faulted the trap instead of a leader and followers working together on a common goal or common purpose the followers begin to revolve around the leader and the goal gets forgotten but the problem is is that eventually the leader is just a human and they will let their followers down. It has to point to something bigger than us. Paul makes it clear that our love that we demonstrate other people should point back to someone far greater than us and that's God. So if you are serving to gratify yourself they do a heart check turn around and say I am going to serve the king for the king not for me. And then, when people look at you they won't see just you but their gaze will be pushed upward to Christ.

The How: Good Works (Titus 3:8b-11, 14)

How is this love displayed?

We looked at the what in vv. 1-2 – Paul’s teaching is on love expressed through selflessness and humility. We are supposed to love other people and exhibit a selfless love for them. Why? For Jesus, out of love for him and gratitude for mercy and grace, to point back to Him. The How is what we’re going to look at now. How do we tangibly live out this love? Let’s go back to the text:

Paul starts in verse 8 with the phrase, “this saying is trustworthy” But Paul continues to quote it in 8 b, saying “I want you to insist on these things.” What things? Good works! Why? Because they are excellent and profitable for everyone. The Greek word anthropos denotes that every person can benefit from these thing. They are a gift from God. Then we continue and Paul gives us the antithesis of good works. Then he speaks specifically about false teachers, Titus if you’ve warned them once and twice, then have nothing to do with him, he is warped and sinful and has condemned himself. I like the way that Brian Chapel sums up this section, talking about the false teachers and how it is unprofitable and worthless. He calls them distractions to grace. (Continue quotation) So he tells Titus to avoid divisive issues and divisive people. These things [useless arguments, genealogies, etc.] are simply unprofitable for the presentation of the gospel and honestly, they damage our witness. What will help our witness? Engaging in that which is profitable and excellent: good works. They are so important that Paul emphasizes them again in verse 14 as he sends final greetings: Titus 3:14

Titus 3:14 ESV

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

We must be devoted to good works that come from a heart in service to the King. We see that James talks about good works in the second chapter of his book, and he says James 2:18

James 2:18 ESV

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

He then continues by adding James 2:26

James 2:26 ESV

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

If we are not doing good works, then our faith is not evident! But if we are doing good works - as already said we must check our motive and make sure it is not s self-serving one. Paul and James are speaking about one and the same thing - Good works must come from a heart transformed by the gospel.

However, you may be asking at this point (even as I did) what kind of good works can I go out and do? How do I tangibly live out this concept we’re talking about right now?

To find this, I believe we need to look at the entire New Testament for examples of good works. I searched for “Good works” in my Bible study app, and came up with 24 verses in the ESV that specifically mention good works. Coupled with many of these verses were verbs that expanded on good works. Here are just a few of the “good works” I found:

Generosity & sharing 1 Ti 6:18

Charity Ac 9:36

Hospitality 1 Ti 5:10

Caring for the afflicted 1 Ti 5:10

If we look at these, we see things that most of the world considers to be “good works.” Have you noticed what the common denominator is? Each one of these is about serving someone else and putting them first. So we see what good works are - they are acts of service and specific activities that a person engages in for the good of another. Serving the homeless, visiting the elderly and sick, helping a brother or sister with a project, coming to the church to help paint, decorate, or clean… these are good works. These are the things that Paul wishes the Cretans to engage in and spend their time on. They are also things that the world understands.

The world sees good works and they see tangible faith.

My wife reminded me of powerful illustration of this. We went to visit her grandmother a few weeks ago, and as we were sitting there she started telling us about “Uncle Bob.” Her words about him were striking: His family were real Christians. They’re always willing to help, volunteering, always willing to get out there and help. Katie’s Granny is an unbeliever, yet she saw Christ most through humble acts of serving other people. I believe this is a powerful illustration of how unbeliever can come in contact with God’s love for them.

Paul uses good works as a tangible way to express the gospel message of salvation to unbelievers, through a medium they can understand very well.

Conclusion

I hope that at this point we can understand more clearly how

Our witness should be characterized by selfless love for others, as our response to God’s mercy and grace.

To recap: We looked at the what, why and how of our witness: Paul teaches in vv. 1-2 that the “what” for our witness and that is selfless and humble love demonstrated to all people. These are expressions of love to others. He then gave the reasoning behind this teaching in vv. 3-8a. This is the “why.” Why is it that we even demonstrate love to the world in the first place? Because Christ loved us first as it says in Romans 5:8. Christ is good even when we are not. So out of love for him, we go out into the world living to point others not to ourselves, but instead to Christ. Then we came to the how. How do we tangibly live out this selfless love to unbelievers? Through good works that serve other people. This is one of the most tangible ways that the world can grasp the the love of Christ - through acts of service. However, these good works are not for our own sake - so that we may be built up. Rather, it’s all for Christ. These are the what why and how of our witness that Paul talks about here in Titus 3.

Before I close, I want to invite anyone here today, either in person or online, who doesn’t know Christ to come to Him. If you have gathered nothing else from today, I pray that you will hear how much God loves you and desires a relationship with you. He loved you so much that He paid the price for your and my sin. When no one could ever make it back Him themselves, so He sent His Son to save us. May I encourage you go back to verse 3-7, and spend time discovering the great mercy and grace of our God. If you need prayer, there are many of us who would be happy to help you meet Christ. But I encourage you today to make a choice to give your life to Christ, and experience what it’s like to live in gratitude to a God who has completely changed everyone of us.

I want to close by reading the last part of verse 15. Titus 3:15

Titus 3:15 (ESV)

Grace be with you all.

This last statement is meant to be a message that transcends time and reverberates through our hearts. God’s grace be with us all. As you go into the world and interact with people, may you be grace-filled people who are selfless, humble, and devoted to good works, why? To point back to Christ because his love permeates every area of our lives. May your words, actions, your witness point others back to Christ this week.