Titus 3:3-7
Date: November 5th, 2023
Speaker: Samuel Crites
Scripture: Titus 3:3-7
Exegetical Outline
Main Idea of Text: Paul explains why Christians are to live well with outsiders.
3:3: Paul explains that an understanding of our previous depravity should make us compassionate toward outsiders.
3:4-7: Paul explains that the grace of God should make us humble when dealing with outsiders, because we had absolutely nothing to do with our salvation.
Homiletical Outline
Main Idea of Sermon: Christians work hard to live well in the world, because God has already worked salvation in their lives.
Christians work hard because the Gospel should make us compassionate.
Christians work hard because the Gospel should make us humble.
Introduction:
Why should we care about other people? And by other people I do not mean people who are not me. I have plenty of reason to care about my wife and kids and family. I am asking, why should care about people that are “other?” People that are strange and not like us. People that are strangers and hard to love because they do not love what we love or are even our enemies. Why should we care about people that are other?
We shouldn’t just ask the question, why should we care about them, but Scripture goes even further and says that we are to love them and put their needs before our own. Why do they deserve to have their needs met when my own needs go unmet? Why should I care about showing “perfect courtesy to all people,” as Paul teaches in Titus 3:2, when they do not show the same courtesy to me?
Last week, we saw that we have a duty to live well with those outside the church, but this week, we get to ask the question, why? What justification does Paul give for why we should do all that he has commanded us to do in Titus 3:1-2? Let’s read Titus 3:3-7 and I want you to ask that question of the text. What is the reason Paul gives for why we are to live well with outsiders? For context, let’s actually begin in verse 1 and read through verse 7:
Titus 3:3-7
3 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. 3 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. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 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, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Our sermon text this week is closely connected with what we learned last week. Last week we saw how we are to live well as Christians in the world. This week, we see why we are to live well as Christians in the world. The main idea of our sermon is this: Christians work hard to live well in the world, because God has already worked salvation in their lives. We work because God has already worked.
All those things that Paul called us to do last week are only possible because God has already taken a foolish, disobedient group of slaves that hate everything and everyone around them, especially God, and he has transformed them. Through the regenerating work of the Spirit, he has given them a new nature and has justified them so that they no longer are rebels and enemies, but sons and heirs to an inheritance of eternal life. We are those people. That is the Gospel. We are able to live well in the world, because we are a people that have been transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ.
Which should cause two effects in the heart of the Christian. These two effects will be the two points of our sermon. First, the saving work of God should make compassionate Christians. This comes right out of verse 3. We work hard to live well in the world because we feel compassion for the lost.
Paul’s logic goes like this. In verses 1 and 2, he says, do these things in order to live rightly with non-believers: submit to and obey external authorities, speak evil of no one, avoid quarrels, be gently, show courtesy. For, in verse 3, we ourselves were just like them! We should have compassion for their slavery because we remember how heavy those chains were and how merciless was the task master of sin. We can still remember the bitter taste that constantly hating everything and everyone around us left on our tongues. We remember shaking our fist at a holy God and only now understand the great danger we faced. So we should compassionately live with those outside the church because the Gospel reminds us that they suffer from the same affliction from which we escaped by grace and grace alone.
But Paul goes on. From verse 4-7, he explains that the gracious work of God in salvation should produce a second effect in our lives. It should make us humble. We were not saved because we deserved it. We did absolutely nothing to merit God’s kindness. We hated him and everything about him. His saving work does not take our efforts into account at all. It is not according to works, but according to his mercy so that even the faith necessary to believe is the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit through the saving work of Jesus Christ. So, not only should we be compassionate towards the desperate and precarious state of all the lost people in our lives, but we should live humbly among them. We are not better because we believe. We are merely those that have found a gift that we did not deserve and that anyone who is still enslaved can receive.
If last week was the what of living well among the world, then this week is the why and the how. As we live among non-believers, attempting to do all that Paul commanded us, the Gospel reminds us of our duty to live a certain way. Because God mercifully did not give us what we deserved and graciously gave us the inheritance that belongs to Christ, we must be compassionate and humble. Christians work hard to live well in the world, because God has already worked salvation in their lives.
Christians work hard because the Gospel should make us compassionate.
Let’s discuss the first point of our sermon: Christians work hard because the Gospel should make us compassionate. Let’s reread verse 3:
Titus 3:3
3 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.
Some of you might be wondering how I made the leap from Titus 3:3 to compassion. If you aren’t thinking that way, you should be. You should always be seeking to see how what the preacher says communicates what the text says. As I read Titus 3:3, it does not seem at first glance that this is a passage about compassion. The word is not even used. It seems the text is speaking about what our lives were like prior to salvation, not telling us to work hard to reach the lost because we feel compassion for them.
Let me give you a hermeneutical principle that is helpful. Just because a word is not used in a text does not mean the idea is not present. I think, in verse 3, that Paul clearly teaches us to feel compassion for those that are still enslaved to sin by remembering what it was like to be lost. We can only accomplish the commands in verses 1-2 if we have a compassionate heart toward those that are lost. Allow me to attempt to prove it to you.
What does it mean to be compassionate? Sketching the full spectrum of meaning that any word has across the New Testament is a challenging task. There are three Greek synonyms that are all interchangeably used for compassion. They range in meaning from pity to mercy to sympathy.
One of the best examples of compassion in the New Testament comes from Christ when he feeds the five thousand. Turn with me to Mark 6:30-34:
Mark 6:30-34
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
In Mark 6, Jesus and his disciples are tired. The disciples are returning from the task that Jesus had sent them on earlier in the passage: to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. He suggests that they retreat to a desolate place in order to refresh themselves and discuss all they had learned and experienced. When they arrived at the place where they thought they would find solitude and rest, they learned that the crowd had followed them around the shore. Instead of a retreat, Jesus and the disciples found themselves ministering to the needs of thousands of people.
But notice what the text says about why. In verse 34, it says that Jesus saw the great need of the crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. That word, compassion, means that he was moved in the deepness of his gut. He had a physical urge to help these people, because he was moved, in the inner core of his person, by their desperation. He was moved because he felt their need as if it was his need and he had the power to meet their need.
This is what it means to have compassion to feel pity, sympathy, and sorrow at the misfortune or need of another person as if it was your own misfortune and need. Their pain is your pain. Their sadness is your sadness. Their loss is your loss.
This is what Paul is reminding us of in Titus 3:3. In verse one he says, “remind them” and in verse 3 he gives the reason. He says, “for” or because, we were all like them. We were foolish, disobedient, led astray, we were all slaves. Slaves that knew nothing but the fleeting pleasures of the flesh and a pervasive kind of hate that was directed at everyone and everything around us. The memory of our own depravity should be crisp in our minds as we live among those that are still deprave.
Their depravity should not surprise us or scandalize us. In fact, it should be expected. It should be a constant reminder that except for grace we would be as blind as they are. What Paul is saying is remember. You are not that far removed from their predicament. No matter how vile they are or how poorly they treat you, they can never be worse than you were. Let that sink in. If it were not for grace, you would be just as evil, just as rebellious, just as happy and excited about persecuting God’s people as they are, because you were just like them.
So, the question is, what does Paul mean for us to take away from that? As we think about being called out from the world to be new creatures, how should that make us live when we are sent back into the world? With the new eyes of the heart, it should make the core of our beings ache with understanding. It should make us itch to bring relief. It should motivate us to bring them the same good news that we have found that rescued us from our hopelessness. The disposition, the inclination of our hearts toward a world that is lost and hostile to the king that we serve should be compassion, because we have had our eyes opened. We now know the extent of their desperation because we can still remember our chains. We know what it is like to think that we walk in the day light when we are actually blind, deaf, and dumb. We know what it is like to think we are the captain of our own ship, but actually we are being carried by the currents to a certain destruction that we cannot see. The Gospel should make us compassionate, because it reminds us what we have been saved from.
The more we meditate on what life was like prior to Christ, the more compassionate we will become in our dealings with the world. The picture Paul paints in Titus 3 is not pretty. We were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. Who wants to sign up for that? Who wants to be around someone like that? But that was you and that was me. That’s what were used to be like. Before the grace of Christ was manifested in our lives, we were horrible, awful people. There was nothing redeemable or kind about us.
One of the reasons that many Christians struggle to feel compassion for their lost neighbors is because we have forgotten what it was like to be lost. Perhaps for some of us, that was a really long time ago. Perhaps it was even when we were children.
Let Paul’s words in Titus 3 remind you. Do not be surprised when the lost world acts like they are lost. If a lost neighbor wants nothing to do with you because you go to Church or if a co-worker can’t stand your political position because you hold to a biblical definition of manhood and womanhood, you should have more grace for them not less. You should be more patient with them than you would a Christian. Compassion should well up inside of you, in your inner being, that spontaneously moves you toward their brokenness, not away.
If we have a healthy understanding of our own sin and depravity, we will be more prepared for the good works Paul commands us to do. We know what they do not know. We know how desperate their need is and how hopeless their predicament is without Christ. We will be motivated to take them the Gospel by understanding our own brokenness that we were saved from.
Christians work hard because the Gospel should make us humble.
Which brings us to our second point. Not only should Christians be compassionate in our dealings with lost people, but Christians should also be humble. Let’s reread Titus 3:4-7:
Titus 3:4-7
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 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, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Brothers and sisters, this is the Gospel. Not that you loved God, but that he loved you. We were saved, not by our own efforts or works, but by the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior. He mercifully kept from us all the punishment and condemnation we deserved and chose to be kind to us. Instead of judgment we received justification. Instead of punishment we received an inheritance. Instead of separation from him, we received his very own Spirit to live and dwell in our hearts.
So before we make the point that Paul is making about humility, let’s just observe what this text says about how salvation works. First, the goodness and lovingkindness of God appears in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is both God and Savior of his people. He is the living manifestation of God’s goodwill and favor toward those that he loves. 1 John 5:11-12:
1 John 5:11-12
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
There is only one name that has eternal life, and that is in the God-man, Jesus Christ from Nazareth. Through him and his sacrifice on the cross for our sin, God has worked salvation for us.
That means, it is not based on our work, but on Christ’s work. There is not a single person that has sought after God, not one. Not because God has hidden himself from them, but because they actively choose to deny what he has clearly revealed. Romans 1:18-23 says:
Romans 1:18-23
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Salvation cannot be a work of man’s righteousness because there is no man that is righteous. They cannot do works of righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says that all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.
But God, in his mercy, has regenerated us. He has washed us with the regenerating and renewing power of his Spirit. Meaning, the Spirit has called us from death to life. He has performed the work that we could not by making us put our trust and hope in the finished work of Jesus Christ. This means that justification, the legal pardon that says you are no longer guilty, is a pure act of God’s grace. The Father chooses to be kind, the Son pays the penalty, and the Spirit regenerates the dead Spirit so that the work of salvation is from beginning to end the work of God and God alone. Jesus takes our punishment and we receive his eternal inheritance.
This is the Gospel, the good news, that Paul communicates to us in Titus 3:4-7, and the entire presentation hinges on the reality that you did absolutely nothing for your salvation. You were not seeking God. You were not desiring God. You were not clever in your understanding of the Gospel. You were not born into the right family. You were not worthy of the kindness that you have received. Paul tells us that he saved you in such a way that God and God alone can receive the credit for salvation. He says in Isaiah 46:8:
Isaiah 46:8
I am the LORD; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Salvation has to be the work of God and only God, otherwise others can claim the glory that is rightfully his.
Which means, you did nothing for your salvation. Nothing. Not even the faith necessary to believe originated with you, but it originated in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Which then means that we should be so careful with our attitude towards the world when we think about how we live and work among them. Christians should be the most humble people in the entire world, especially in dealing with those that are lost, because without grace, we would be just like them.
But what does it mean to be humble? Again, Christ is our example of humility. Turn with me to Philippians 2. Let’s read verses 1-11.
Philippians 2:1-11
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
From Philippians 2:1-11, we can see in the example of Christ two things about what humility is and one thing about what humility is not.
Let’s start with what humility is not. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Look at verse 5.
Philippians 2:5-6
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Christ, who was in the very form of God, did not think equality with God as something to be grasped. We can clearly see that Christ is God. He has the very form of God. However, he has the humility to himself to the will of the Father. It was not that Christ is less than God, it was that Christ humbly submitted himself to the will of the Father. The reality is that he is in the very form of God, but the disposition of his heart is not to seek equality, an equality that he rightly deserves.
This means, it is not appropriate to think of humility as self-deprecation. We have all met that kind of humility. The kind of humility that says, I am the worst. I am the least of all Christians. No one is as worthless and low as I am. That is not humility, because that is not the kind of humility that Christ models.
Christ does not depreciate his essence. He is God. Rather, Christ submits himself to the will of the Father in the incarnation. In humble obedience, he emptied himself by adding to himself a new nature. Being in the form of God, he took on the form of man. Meaning, the God of the universe, the eternal Second Person of the Trinity emptied himself by adding to his nature as God a second nature as a man. It was subtraction by addition.
So in no way is humility thinking less of yourself because Christ did not demean his Godhood by taking on manhood. That is not what Paul is saying. Brothers and sisters, you are valuable. God himself laid down his life to rescue from the curse of sin. You are a treasure to your Creator. Do not debase what he values. Do not belittle what he died for. The value of an object is set by the price you are willing to pay for it, and God paid an infinitely valuable price for your salvation.
So if salvation is not thinking less of yourself, what is it? Paul says two very clear things: first, in verse 3, he says humility is thinking of others as more significant than yourself, and second, in verse 4, he says it is putting the needs and interests of others above your own. This is exactly what Christ models for us. He looked at our desperate state, needing a Savior and payment for sin, and he consider our needs as greater than his own. He understood the sovereign plan of the Father, and humbly played his part by being obedient to the point of death, even death of a cross. He put the Father’s desire to be gracious and kind to us before his own desire not to be humiliated and murdered on a cross. Christ is our perfect example of humility, because he did for others what only someone that is both God and man could do. He left heaven, lived the perfect life, and paid the penalty for sin for all those that would put their trust in him. So as we think about how we are to be humble toward the world, we are to follow the example of Christ.
This past week, a team of our members went to Tijuana, Mexico to visit Radius International.
Define Radius
Explain what the Students give up.
Core Values: Suffering is normative.
As we meditate on our sinfulness prior to salvation and the stunning work of grace that God did for us in salvation, it can only humble us. It can only make us bend the knee before our God, and surrender anything and everything to him. In humility, Christ gave up everything in order to fulfill the will of God. This is what we are called to as we think about living with the world. We are supposed to put our lost neighbor’s needs before our own needs, we are to consider interests before our own. Though we are just as valuable as they are, we are to submit ourselves to the will of Father and give up everything to reach them with the Gospel. Are you willing to be so humble? Are you willing to pay any price and give up any privilege to live a life that is truly humble?
Conclusion
As we conclude, let me remind you of Paul’s commands in verses 1-2. He said:
Titus 3:1-2
3 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 do these commands change in your mind as you think about how sinful and foolish you used to be? How do they change when you think that so freely saved you and that at such a high personal price to himself?
How does that change the way you go into the post office tomorrow? Does that change the way that you talk to your neighbor? Does it change the way that you interact with your family that does not know Christ?