EAGER TO DO GOOD

Lessons from the letter to Titus

In his letter to his young associate, Paul encourages Titus in his ministry in Crete. Paul reminds that he had left him behind when Paul had moved on to minister in other places. He left him there for a very specific purpose, which was “that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” (1:5) And at that point in his letter he gives Titus the qualities that the new elders should possess. Among those qualities is “one who loves what is good.” (1:8) This is a precursor to what becomes the key thought of the letter.

Paul then lists the characteristics of some people who could never be appointed an elder, because they are the complete opposite to what an elder should be. Note how he finishes that description in verse 16, with the summary that these men are “detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” This highlights the difference between the two lists; one loves what is good and the other is unfit for anything good.

Building on that, Paul gets to the heart of the letter; which is what Titus should teach and for what purpose. There follows a syllabus for teaching older men, older women, young men and slaves. The syllabus for older women includes what they should teach younger women. Included in theses lessons we find “to teach what is good” v. 3, “set them an example by doing what is good” v.7, and then in verses 13 -14 “… Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” This, says Paul is why Jesus died, what he did for us, so we would be his people, eager to do what is good! It is not that they would be forced to do good, but that we, you and I, would be eager to do good. This speaks not just to our character but also to our actions.

Are you getting the idea that our doing good is important to God? And in verse 2:15, Paul says to Titus, “these, then, are the things you should teach.”

And Paul continues the theme in chapter three.

He opens chapter 3 by telling Titus how we ought to be living now: “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.” (v.1-2).

Then in verse 3:3, Paul gives a general description of our condition before we knew Jesus.

At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Are we subject to rulers and authorities, obedient, ready to do whatever is good (whatever that entails), slandering no one, peaceable and considerate, always gentle?

The snapshot of who Paul wants the Cretan believers to be, compared to the picture showing who they were, shows that some type of drastic change has taken place in their circumstances. It is this that he addresses in the next verses.

What had caused the change? The kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, and He saved us (v. 4). And this had nothing to do with anything we had done (v. 4). So, how did he do that?

It was because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out the Holy Spirit upon us generously. He did that through Jesus Christ our Saviour (v. 6).

Therefore we are justified by his grace, we are heirs, and we have the hope of eternal life! (v. 7).

This is the hallmark truth of New Testament. Believe and be saved. It is not by any works that we have done that we are saved. Yet good works has always been stressed in the church. And sometimes one or the other takes so much of the teaching and emphasis of a group that it rather drowns out any emphasis of the other.

In Martin Luther’s time, the prominent church of the day had forsaken the message of salvation by faith. Luther’s call to repentance and faith was clearly a reaction to the church who had ignored that truth and was selling indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. He was so strong in this emphasis that he questioned whether the book of James should be included in the bible because of James’ emphasis on works. That is highlighted by the verse that says that faith without works is dead.

Sometimes, if you listen to preachers on TV or radio, it seems as you listen to the appeal that all you need to do, is believe. Believe and be saved. Believe and your place in heaven is secured. It appears that this is all that counts. Believe and you’ve done all that is necessary.

But we all know that is not the complete truth. At least you know that if you read your bible and/or listen to good preaching.

Many of you know that June and I were missionaries in the Philippines. One of the things that we did was to head up the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) for the Philippine Alliance. We belonged to the Philippine Association for TEE, which included about 10 other denominations who had TEE programs. I got to know several of their leaders quite well.  There were three or four Baptist groups who belonged. I asked the Southern Baptist friend what was the difference between them and the North American Baptist? With a big smile on his face he said, “One of us doesn’t care what you believe if you live right, and the other doesn’t care how you live if you believe right.” And just like any good Canadian, I just shook my head, laughed, and did not pursue the issue of which denomination was which. It was clear that they were used to using these overstated caricatures of each other. Neither denomination was as extreme as the answer suggested.

But it does point out the divide between groups of believers. And we need to be aware that Paul agrees with James though he frames it differently. We clearly see this in Paul’s letter to Titus.

During the time I was preparing this message I mentioned to June that the book is all about doing good and being kind to others. So one morning she read the book of Titus a couple times and took note of all uses of the word “good”. She noted that the word is used 8 times. That is in a total of just 46 verses in the whole book. Seems like this is really, really, important to Paul.

Listen again to chapter 3, verses 1 to 8.

3:1 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ² to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

As you see, Paul instructs Titus, ‘This is a trustworthy saying’: So stress these things! I want you to stress these things. Do that so that all who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.

That is excellent and profitable for all – for every believer. I can include myself and those with whom I have to do with. It includes you as a Christian. We must devote ourselves to doing what is good. It is not a side-line activity. It is not just for the few. It is not just for those who are specifically gifted to do so. It is for us all to be doing what is good.

So let’s look at this trustworthy saying. First Paul reminds Titus that as Christians his people should be subject to those who are constituted authorities over us. Rulers and other authorities. And we who live long after Paul wrote this should remember that he did not live in a democracy, nor did he live under godly leaders in the Roman empire. Nor did the folks in Crete where Titus ministered. Nonetheless, they should be subject to their own rulers. They and we are to be obedient to those over us. It is a way of life and a general rule. Submission is not degrading. The exception would be if told to do things that God has told us not to do.

We are to be reminded to be ready to do whatever is good. This is not telling us to be good. It is talking about an activity, doing good. One good activity is not slandering people. Resist putting other people down, stop talking evil about them.

In chapter 3:9 Paul instructs his young protégé saying “Now, Titus, as you stress these things, there are some things I want you to avoid.” You must avoid them for good reasons. AVOID foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments and quarrels about the LAW. If Paul were writing this today he might just include conspiracy theories. These things are not profitable or useful. They are unprofitable and useless.

He warns Titus, “Warn divisive people once and even a second time, but no more. Don’t have anything more to do with them. You can be sure, I want you to understand this, those people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.”

This may seem harsh and a difficult thing to do. But it is necessary. But do not waste your time working with those who are divisive They can really mess us the church. (illustration)

Again, in ending this note to Titus, Paul writes in 3:14, the second last verse of the letter which is followed by the closing greetings. It is important to note that Paul returns to this point in closing his teaching. Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

We have already mentioned that Titus was given the syllabus for teaching. When we look at the first two chapters we find some of the same type of encouragement to be doing good. Verse 2:2, “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in endurance.” (2:3ff) “Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, … to teach what is good. 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 … ,” verse 2:14 “Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” So we see that Jesus wants us to do good. Even more he wants us to be eager to do good!

It all flows from our new nature as God’s children through Jesus Christ and his pouring out the Holy Spirit upon us.

Hopefully you don’t have questions as to whether Christian people are eager to do good because they are Christians. The examples are many both ancient and present. Take Peter who so often misspoke and got things wrong. Who was chosen to preach the sermon on the day of Pentecost? Peter the new leader of the disciples. In Acts we find him and John going into the temple and when he saw and heard the lame man begging for alms, he offered not silver or gold but healing in the name of Jesus. Who was chosen to be the first to take the gospel to the non-Jews of the world? Peter who did what was forbidden under the law to open the door to salvation to the gentiles. He delighted to do good.

Look at the life of Paul as he spent the years of his life as a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He traveled, spent sleepless nights, was hungry, beaten with 40 lashes and continually rejoiced in the fact that he was worthy of suffering for the sake of Jesus and the salvation of those who heard him.

And what about Lydia who from the point of her salvation delighted in providing for the missionary team and for the church to meet in her home. I think we can safely say that when the church in Philippi sent money to Paul, their missionary, that Lydia would have been one who participated in the offering.

And, of course, our primary example is Jesus Christ of whom Luke wrote in Acts 10:38 “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

We too, have been anointed with the Holy Spirit. And one of the pieces of evidence should be that you go around doing good. It is innate in the Christian character.

Ron MacKinnon