Titus 3:1-2
Date: October 29th, 2023
Speaker: Samuel Crites
Scripture: Titus 3:1-2
Exegetical Outline
Main Idea of Text: Titus is to remind the church at Crete how to live well with outsiders.
Submit to rulers and authorities.
Be obedient.
Be ready for every good work.
Speak evil of no one.
Avoid quarreling.
Be gentle.
Show perfect courtesy toward all people.
Main Idea of Sermon: Christians are required to live well in the world.
There is a fundamental difference between those inside the Church and outside the Church.
The difference: the righteous and the wicked
The similarity: made in the image of God
7 commands for how Christians are to live well with outsiders.
Submit to rulers and authorities.
Be obedient.
Be ready for every good work.
Speak evil of no one.
Avoid quarreling.
Be gentle.
Show perfect courtesy toward all people.
Introduction:
For most of the book of Titus, we have been learning what it means to live as the Church within the Church. We have talked about elders, false teaching, and how to live well with each other across the generational divide. This week, we begin chapter 3 and Paul transitions from talking about how to live within the walls of the Church to how we should live outside of the walls of the Church.
This is such an important topic, because 90% of your life takes place outside the walls of the Church. Even if you were the most dedicated member of the Church, at every single event the Church offered, you would still spend the overwhelming majority of your time living in the world.
Turn with me to Titus 3:1-2 and let’s see how Paul teaches us to live outside the walls of the Church in the world.
Titus 3:1-2
3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
How is a Christian supposed to live well in the world? What are those characteristics that would mark them as someone different from those that do not follow Christ? Here at the beginning of Titus 3, Paul shifts from giving Titus instruction for how to put the Church in order internally and now gives them instruction for how to live well in the world. The same grace that gives them the ability to live at peace with each other should also affect the way that they live with those that are not God’s people. The main idea of our sermon this week is that: Christians are required to live well in the world.
What does it mean to live well in the world? In order to consider what it means to live well in the world, we must first understand the difference between God’s people and everyone else in the world. What is the essential difference between those in the Church and those outside the Church?
This is the first point of our sermon. There is a fundamental difference between the righteous and the wicked. It is the same difference between life and death, light and dark, family and enemies, between the wise and the foolish, between those who’s end is eternal life and those who’s end is eternal destruction. The reason that Christians must be taught how to live in the world is because the world is alien, hostile territory. Christians are as foreign to the world as humans living in space. Without special instruction and purposeful living, Christians would be consumed by an environment that is antagonistic to their very existence.
However, there is similarity in the midst of dissimilarity. For as radical a difference as does exist between those inside the Church and those outside the Church, there is also a similarity that justifies all that Paul is about to teach us in our sermon text. We must live well among those that are lost, because they bear the same image that we bear. They deserve the respect and dignity that all those that bear God’s image deserve. In our second point, we will see that Paul gives us seven commands for how to live well in a hostile world. Seven commands that help us to understand both our duty to the world and the witness that we must cultivate for the sake of the Gospel.
To ignore Paul’s commands for how to live well in the world will result in Christians either retreating from the world or being so consumed as to become indistinguishable from the lives they led prior to finding Christ. Paul will help us thread the needle of virtue by teaching us how to live well in the world.
What is the fundamental difference between those inside the Church and those outside the Church?
To understand how to live well in the world, we must first understand the essential difference between those in the Church and those in the outside world. All that Paul is saying in our sermon text only makes sense if there is difference, otherwise, all he has said in Chapter 2 would simply apply to all the relationships in our lives. The commands in Chapter 2 are different from the commands in Chapter 3, because the people group they apply to is different. Chapter 2 is all about how to live well within the Church. Chapter 3 is about how to live well outside of the Church, in the world.
So what is the fundamental difference between those inside the Church and those outside the Church? To answer this questions, let’s turn to Malachi 3:16-4:3. Malachi is the last prophet in the Old Testament, and this prophecy set the context for what the Israelites were to look forward to. This passage is most well-known for the Messianic promise that Elijah will return before the coming of the Messiah, but look at what Malachi says right before that. Let’s read Malachi 3:16-4:3:
Malachi 3:16-4:3
16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
4 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.
The essential distinction between those who are inside the Church and those that are outside the Church is the same difference that Malachi describes between the righteous and the wicked. This is the consistent teaching of Scripture across all of Scripture. There are those that fear God and there are those that are foolish. There are those that are the children of Abraham and the children of wrath. There are those whose Father is God and those whose father is the devil. All human beings that have ever lived can be divided into these two categories: the righteous and the wicked.
So let’s use Malachi 3:16-4:3 to briefly sketch each group to see what we can learn about each. We are going to ask the same three questions about each group. Question 1: Who are they? Question 2: What do they do? Question 3: What is the their ultimate fate? The answers are going to come right out of Malachi 3 and 4.
Who are the righteous and who are the wicked? Malachi 3:16 and 17 says that the righteous are those that have been claimed by the Lord as his own treasure and possession. They belong to him because they fear him, so he has decided that they will be spared from the coming of the Great Day of the Lord, which we learn more about in a moment. God knows the righteous. He has set them aside for the purpose of being kind to them. They belong to him as his treasured possession.
God also knows the wicked, but not in the same way. He does not know them as his treasured people. In fact, they are the exact opposite. They are the object of his anger and scorn. God has prepared a special day for them and Malachi describes it as a smoldering oven where the white hot coals of God’s anger have been banked and prepared and is waiting for the day to come when it will be put to use.
So why has God chosen one and not the other? What is it that the righteous have done that the wicked have not done? The righteous, Malachi says, serve God. Verse 18 says that this is the fundamental distinction between the righteous and the wicked. They serve him because they fear him. They give God the honor and worship that he deserves.
The wicked are not like this. They do not acknowledge God or serve him. In fact, Malachi 4:1 says that they are all arrogant and they are all evil doers. Arrogant, because they refuse to acknowledge the God that created them, that cares for them, that gives them meaning and purpose. They do evil, because nothing they do is done to honor God. Evil is the absence of good and God alone is good, so every act of charity and kindness along with every act of selfishness is all godless, from beginning to end. It has no value or purpose because it does not acknowledge or glorify that one from whom all blessing and calamity comes.
The final question we must ask is what is the ultimate fate of each group? In Malachi 4:2, Malachi says that God will make the sun of righteousness rise and shine upon those that fear his name. The sun of righteousness will shine on his people and he will heal them. In that day, they will go out like calves leaping from the stall. Have you ever seen calves that have been pinned up in stalls be released into the pasture? It can only be described as pure joy. The righteous will run and leap for joy, because they are finally freed from the encumbrance of sin and the presence of the wicked. Verse 3 says they will tread the ashes of the wicked under their feet in their haste to leap for joy. In the end, they will be healed, freed, and satisfied by the God that has chosen to be kind and gracious to them.
This is not true for the wicked. The ultimate end of the wicked is destruction. Malachi says that the furnace of smoldering wrath that has been prepared for them will be unleased and the indignation of the Lord will consume them like stubble. When the Great Day of the Lord comes, they will be set ablaze and nothing will be left behind, not rood or branch. It will all be consumed.
These two groups could not be more diametrically opposed. One is the object of God’s grace, the other the object of God’s wrath. One serves God and honors him, the other arrogant rebels against him and does evil. For one group, the Great Day of the Lord will dawn on them with healing and freedom, and for the other, that same day, that same sun, will be an all-consuming fire that completely destroys them, leaving nothing behind.
This fundamental difference means that we cannot be with them. We must come out and be separate from them. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Church, you are the temple of the Spirit of God. You can have no portion with wickedness, and not evil in some abstract sense, not wickedness. You can have no portion the wicked. You are not to marry them, you are not to be in business partnerships with them, they are not to be your inner circle of friends. So many Christians flirt with disaster by inviting lost people into the closest inner circles of their lives. Paul is clear. We are to come out and be separate from the world. There is a real and genuine command to God’s people to be holy, which means to be set apart from the world.
But that does not mean that we are to cloister ourselves in monasteries and abandon the world. Christ has both called us to be separate from the world, but in the world. Consider this part of the High Priestly Prayer in John 17:14-19:
John 17:14-19
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Our High Priest prayed for us that we would balance both holiness and mission. That we would be separate from the world, but that we would be active amongst the world. Active amongst a world that was hostile toward our Savior, and will be hostile toward us.
This is why we need special instruction on how to live righteous lives in the midst of a wicked world. It hates us. The world wants to corrupt us, destroy us, or at the very least make us ineffective, because it hates the God that we represent. We are the ambassadors of Christ in a country that sees him as public enemy number one.
Not only that, but we have also been sent out with a mission. If anyone understands the desperate state of the world, it should be us. The ones that have been called out of the world. We, the Church, are the only ones that truly understand the danger that every person in the world faces. They are sinners in the hands of an angry God. We have a mission to tell every single enemy of God that there is a way to escape. They do not have to face the righteous wrath of God, because someone else has already paid the penalty for their rebellion. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, stood in the place of sinners to take the punishment that they rightly deserve so that they could go from being wicked to being righteous. While there are two groups of people in the world, that is not how it starts. The story begins that we are all sinners. By grace, God calls some from wickedness to righteousness, and he does it through the preaching of his Church. He uses normal people like you and like me to make the righteous out of the wicked.
Brothers and sisters, this is a high call and the ultimate reason we need instruction on how to live well in the world. For the sake of the Gospel, we are called to live well in the world that is hostile toward us and our King, so that just maybe, those that are slaves to sin might become slaves to righteousness.
Seven commands for how to live well in the world.
Which brings us to our second point. Now that we have seen that we are different from the world, it is necessary to consider how that changes the way that we live. If we are actually different, then we should live differently. In our sermon text, Paul gives us seven commands for how to live well in the world. He has already told how to live well with each other within the Church. That was Chapter 2. Now he is going to teach us how to live well outside of the Church in the world. Let’s reread Titus 3:1-2:
Titus 3:1-2
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
Let’s take them one at a time and consider how these commands would change the way that we live as the Church in the world.
Be Submissive to Rulers and Authorities
First, Paul says to remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. This first command clues us into the fact that Paul has shifted from teaching us how to live in the Church to how to live outside in the world.
God has established three basic spheres of authority in the life of the Christian. They are not wholly separate from each other, meaning there is some overlap, but they are distinct authorities. The three basic authorities are the Government, the Church, and the Family. All of these are institutions established by God that draw their authority from God.
For most of the book of Titus, we have been considering the Church’s authority in the life of the Christian and how we are to live in light of that. Now we are considering the authority of the Government in the life of the Christian and how we are to live in light of that. Make no mistake, Christian, the government is a real authority in your life, and you are commanded by God to submit to it. We see that clearly in Titus 3, if in brief, but we also see it in greater detail in other places in Scritpure. Consider Romans 13:1-7:
Romans 13:1-7
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Put very simply, God has delegated civic authority to the government for your good. You might not like the government, your preferred party may not be in power, but regardless, you are commanded by God to submit. If you do not, he has given the government the sword to carry out his justice on the earth as his servant.
This means a lot of things for Christians. Paul says, at the very least, that it means we are to pay our taxes. It also means that we are to honor and respect governing authorities in our lives.
It has become very common, even amongst Christians, to have a general disdain and distrust of police officers. As if we are to be afraid of the police. Paul tells us in Romans 13 that so long as we do good, we have nothing to fear from governing authorities. This should be true in our interactions with law enforcement and in the way that we talk about them. It is sinful for Christians to speak in disrespectful ways about police officers. Submission to governing authorities means not merely obedience, but also respect and honor. They are an instrument for good in your life so long as you submit to their God-given authority in your life.
Be Obedient
The second command is similar to the first, but more direct. Not only are we to submit to governing authorities, but we are to be obedient. Now, this is not the common word for obedience in the Greek. It is a rare word that is only used one other time in Scripture. It is a compound word peitheō [to be persuaded] and archeō [to be sufficient], so you might say that the word is literally transliterated as something like to be sufficiently persuaded. Now we have to be careful, because the individual meaning of words in a compound word do not always give us insight into the meaning of a word. For example, the word butterfly does not mean that the stick of butter on your counter sprouted wings and flew away. So to be sufficiently persuaded could give us a clue, but context must be our guide. When dealing with a rare word, it is better to look at other places in the ancient literature where the word is used, because we don’t get much context in Titus 3.
The one other place this word is used in Scripture is Acts 5:29. Turn to Acts 5 and let’s begin in verse 27.
Acts 5:27-32
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Our word is there in verse 29. As the apostles are dragged before the religious authorities and charge to stop preaching about the resurrection of Jesus, Peter says that they have a greater duty to obey God than they have to obey men. Meaning, given the two legitimate authorities in their lives, they are sufficiently convinced of their greater duty to God than their duty to men. The context of this rare word seems to be meant for use when there is a conflict between two legitimate options or desires. In the case of the Apostles in Acts 5, it is between the religious authorities and the authority of God. That is not the context in Titus 3. It is not a one fore one jump from Acts to Titus, but I think Acts 5 can help us with Titus 3.
In Titus 3, we must ask ourselves, what conflicting desires exist in this passage? If this type of obedience is the obedience between two, legitimate conflicting desires, then what kind of conflict exists? I would argue it is the internal conflict that one feels when they don’t want to submit to authority, whether it is the civic government or any type of authority in your life. Christian’s are those that recognize the authority of God and that his authority is delegated to many kinds of authority in our lives. We should be sufficiently convinced of our duty to obey him by obeying the authorities that he has placed in our lives.
Let me say it this way, in general, Christians should not be predisposed to rebel, they should be predisposed to obey. This is not the case in America, and it is especially not the case in Texas. Americans, Texans, and Lord help us, Texas Baptists can be some of the most ornery, difficult and stubborn people out there.
That should not be. The world’s experience with Christians should be that they, for the most part, are compliant and obedient people. That does not mean that we are a bunch of lemmings that can be taken advantage of, but of all people, we should be people that understand the authority we are under. We are not the Lord of our own lives. We are not the captain of our ship. We are not the masters of our own destiny. If we know that to be true, we should be sensitive and predisposed to obedience.
Be Ready For Every Good Work
The third command Paul gives us in verse 1 is that we are to be ready for every good work. The focus of this command is preparedness. We are to be ready. To be ready for good works means that we are to be on the lookout for good works.
This is particularly challenging, because the context of this command is the world, not the Church. Paul is telling the Church at Crete, through Titus, to be prepared to do good to those that hate and revile you. This is quite possibly the hardest command Paul gives in our sermon text today. The first two command are submit and obey in order to avoid punishment. If you submit and obey, in general, you aren’t going to have problems. But this is something different entirely. He is telling us to proactively be prepared to do good in spite of the pain and suffering that you know is coming your way.
But Paul is merely communicating to us in shorthand what Christ has already commanded us. Listen to the teachings of Christ in Luke 6:27-36:
Luke 6:27-36
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
If you thought being predisposed to obedience was radical, consider this. We are supposed to do good to our enemies; not just good, we are supposed to love them! If you only love those that love you, what benefit is that to you?
I want everyone to think of the last person that wronged you, I mean truly wronged you. Not like they took your parking spot. I mean they did something that was genuinely uncalled for and undeserved. If anyone in your life could be considered your enemy, this person that did this thing could be considered your enemy. Think about the thoughts you have thought about them and the words you have said about them. Think of the things that you have done to them. Have you loved that person the way that Christ loved you? Have you sought to do them good the way that Paul and Jesus are commanding us to seek their good?
The expectation of the world should be that, no matter what they do to us, we are out to do them good, to love them and genuinely seek to put their needs before our own in spite of what they do to us. This is the standard of Christian love, not because the world deserves it but because we have been loved. Look at how Christ ends his teaching in verse 36.
Luke 6:36
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Your standard of good is not the good enough of the world, but the infinite good of your Father in heaven.
Speak Evil of No One
Our fourth command is to speak evil of no one. This is the command that I find the most convicting. Not that I am malicious in my speech, but that there have been times in my life where I have been too loose with my lips. I have spoken too freely of things that were privileged information or the ways that other people have wronged me, even if I was in the right.
Brothers and sisters, the Scripture’s teaching on the tongue is clear, if let off the leash, your tongue will literally burn your world to the ground. Consider what James teaches us in James 3:6-12:
James 3:6-12
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
One of the smallest members of our bodies is quite possible the most dangerous, because with our tongues we can bless and curse, build up and tear down, teach truth and blasphemies.
As we consider living well in the world, no Christian should be considered a gossip. There should not be a single non-Christian in your life that should say that you have a problem with the way that you talk about other people. Because what we say reflects what we believe. Not only in moments where we share what we actually believe, but in every other moment when we aren’t. The things that you say about other people and the way that you say them speak 10 times louder about what you actually believe than when you actually preach the Gospel. Your tongue reveals your heart. That is why James says that salt and fresh water cannot come from the same pond. If your heart has been changed, your tongue should reflect it.
Avoid Quarreling
Which dovetails nicely with our fifth command, avoid quarreling. When dealing with people in the world, it is inevitable that you will find yourself in contentious conversations. Paul is telling us to avoid them. If you end up in a hard conversation, make sure that it is not your fault. Too often, Christians who would never seek a fist fight, seek out word fights. This should not be the case. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul warns us of this type of quarreling in the Church, but here he warns us about quarreling with the world.
So, if you find yourself in a quarrel, or a contentious conversation, let me give you a question that has helped me in the past. The question is simple, but it has completely changed my approach to conversations in the past. The question is: what is my goal in this conversation? Now you might say that your goal is completely altruistic, meaning you have nothing but good intentions, but do the words you are using, your body language, and your unwillingness to give up the fight really agree with that?
What I found to be true for myself was that I liked arguing for the contest. I wanted to win. Even if I convinced myself that I was evangelizing someone, upon self-reflection, the things I said and did, and the way I felt about it afterward revealed that not to be true. If I was frustrated or angry after a “discussion,” it’s because I was not actually in a discussion, but a debate.
Christians are not supposed to quarrel with lost people. It is impossible to argue someone into the kingdom of God. Rather, Christians are to listen well and communicate the Gospel. If God is actually the one that saves people, then I don’t need to beat them over the head with my Bible or dazzle them with my wit. I need to be faithful to what God has asked me to do and trust that God will be faithful to what he has said he would do. Christian, avoid debating and quarreling.
Be Gentle
Paul’s sixth command is: be gentle. Hopefully, you are beginning to see how these are all related. When it comes to our interactions with the outside world, we should be thought of as people that are gentle.
Gentleness is something that is misunderstood. Typically, we think of gentle people as weak people. This is not true. Weakness is the absence of strength, but gentleness requires strength. A weak person can’t be gentle, because they couldn’t hurt anyone if they wanted to. It takes a strong person exercising restraint to be considered gentle.
The most gentle person I know in my life is my dad. Dad was a freak athlete growing up. He played football and had full-ride offers to play at all the best Universities coming out of high school. He was a middle linebacker and ended up playing at West Virginia University. Dad was known for his natural strength. He was actually too slow in college to stay at middle linebacker so they moved him to defensive line, which should give you an idea of his strength. Not many middle linebackers could easily transition to the defensive line and hold their own. He ended up having a career ending injury when he tore his ACL.
But I share all of that because Dad had four boys. When I think of gentleness, I think of my dad wrestling all four of us boys at one time on the floor of the living room. Here was this 6 foot four defensive lineman wrestling with a bunch of little kids in a way that no one got hurt and everyone had fun. And it was not like he got weaker over time. One time when I was in high school, we were wrestling and I thought I was finally getting the upper hand, he decided he had had enough and pinned me to the ground with one hand.
That is gentleness. The ability or even the right to do something and choosing not to do it. The strength to defend yourself and tolerating the discomfort of allowing yourself to be wronged. This is what Paul calls us to as we interact with the world.
Show Perfect Courtesy to All People
Finally, Paul commands us to show perfect courtesy toward all people. I think of this command as its own command, but also as the thread that is running through all of these commands. When interacting with the world, Christians are to be perfectly courteous to all people. We are to demonstrate to all people in our every reaction that we genuinely respect and care for them.
The difficulty of this command is walking the line between demonstrating courtesy and passively approving sin in people’s lives. This is why maintaining the distinction between the righteous and the wicked is so important. In order to be perfectly courteous to all people, we must understand the difference and the similarity that we share with the world.
We can be courteous to all people because, like all people, we have all been made in the image of God. There is a basic dignity and respect that all of God’s creatures deserve, because all men reflect his glory in their imperfection. However, the difference between the righteous and the wicked also allows us to be courteous to all people because it gives us the compassion necessary to do it. We are not polite for politeness sake. We are courteous to all people, because our hope is that our kindness will lead them to the truth. It will lead them out of their sin to join us in righteousness.
Conclusion
As we conclude, I want us to think about our own lives. As we consider how we live in the world, we all exist on a spectrum.
On one side of the spectrum, we have taken the call to live holy and separate from the world to the extreme. We have sequestered ourselves. All of our friends are Christians. We have become so comfortable in our Christian bubble that we have become ineffective for the Gospel, because we don’t actually know anyone that’s not a Christian, and we have been there so long that we don’t really even know how to talk to non-Christians anymore. If we were honest, the world is such a scary place that we might even admit we were too afraid to risk it.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have taken the command to be in the world to such an extreme that there is not functional difference between us and our lost friends. The words we us, the places that we go, the entertainment we watch is so worldly that if a non-biased third party could observe your life, they would not know you are Christian at all. Sure you go to Church, but outside of these walls, there is nothing in your life that your lost friends would look at and see as different than their own lives. You don’t have an effective Gospel ministry, because your life does not testify that you have been changed.
Somewhere between those two extremes, everyone in this room lives. We are all either too sequestered or too worldly. Paul is calling us to live in the middle, threading the needle between living holy lives and living in the world. You cannot have an effective Gospel ministry by living at the extremes. If we are going to be effective for the kingdom, we must learn to live well in the world, like Paul is teaching us in Titus 3.
Let’s pray.