Exeter Temple Message notes:
30th
August 2015
Bible Readings: Titus and 2 Corinthians
7:13-8:21
Titus spent some of his time as a travelling missionary as part of
Paul’s team but also became the pastor of a local congregation. He may have
eventually been a bishop with oversight of a region. Even if we are not like
Titus in personality, role or circumstance we can learn from his own godly
attributes and those he was encouraged to pursue.
1. Be ready
Paul took Titus with him to the Council of Jerusalem where he used Titus
as a test case in the matter of whether Gentiles needed to adopt Jewish customs
in order to find acceptance in the church.
(Gal.2:1-3).
Titus was sent to the problem filled church at Corinth where he also was expected to
challenge the congregation to fulfill a financial obligation. He is then dispatched to Crete, a place with bad
reputation. Paul had visited the island of Crete briefly on his voyage to Rome
as a prisoner and returned later with Titus after his release but then asked Titus
to go back there on his own to build up the church. From there Titus was asked to re-join
Paul in Nicapolis and then moved again to Dalmatia. Titus may have stayed with Paul during his
second imprisonment in Rome and at some point returned to Crete where he
probably ended his days.
Why say yes to such
difficult tasks?
Titus would have learned from Paul that the true motivation for any ministry
is service. Paul often used the word servant to describe himself and he opened
his letter to Titus with the words, “Paul a servant of God and an apostle of
Jesus Christ.”
The thought of servitude does not rest easily with our modern ideas of
freedom and independence. If service is an attempt
to somehow measure up and earn the acceptance of God it will appear too
demanding.
The Greek word often simply translated as servant, can
also be translated as “bond-slave. In ancient culture if a person got into
serious debt the outcome was often enslavement
to their creditor. In Jewish law this could not be for more than 7 years. However
some slaves would voluntarily become permanent bond-slaves of a master they loved and
respected. (See Exodus 21:5-6)
The servant of Christ confidently and voluntarily gives their
life over to a master who is as wise as he is kind. Titus seemed to have
grasped the whole concept of being a Servant of Christ which is not just a tick list of duties that have a beginning and
end. It is a lifestyle.
Do you see yourself as a servant or just a volunteer?
There’s a world of difference between the two. A volunteer picks and chooses
when and even whether to serve. A servant serves no matter what. A volunteer
serves when convenient; a servant serves out of commitment.
1 Peter 2:16 challenges
us to “…live as servants of God.”
2. Be
realistic
Paul
quotes a Greek poet who said the people of Crete were always liars, evil brutes
and lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:12)Paul
agrees and adds that they are also people who “claim to know God but by their
actions they deny him. They are they are detestable, disobedient and unfit for
doing anything good.” (Titus 1:13)
Titus was put into in a difficult
circumstance and there is no use pretending otherwise. Sometimes we are put into such positions because God knows that is where
we are most needed. Paul says to Titus, “This is why I left you in Crete, so
that you might put what remained into order.
In other words, Crete is a mess that is why you are there. (Titus 1:5)
It was not just Crete that needed help but the Church there had
been affected by the culture around it. It seemed to be beset by a rise in false teaching and declining morality.
The Greek behind that phrase straighten out in v 5 is
linked to the idea of a broken bone being reset. Titus is there to help this church walk
again. Another adjective that Paul uses 4 times in this letter is the word
“sound” He links the word with doctrine
in chapter 1:9 and “2:1. And with faith in chapter 1:13 and chapter 2:2. It is used to describe that which is whole or
healthy, strong, not defective.
The = English word "hygiene" from the
Greek.
There is a part of us that would prefer to avoid a health check-up but
good sense tells us that having an evaluation of our condition means that poor
health issues can be addressed.
So Paul calls Titus to not be afraid of facing up to
what is wrong but gives him lots of advice about how to help this church get
healthy.
If our spiritual health is going to be good it has to
be based on truth. Titus 1:9
stresses the importance of holding firmly to the trustworthy message as it has
been taught and encouraging others by sound doctrine. One of the reasons our
lives are spiritually unhealthy at times is because we have listened to and
followed the wisdom of the world above the wisdom of the Bible. In our communication saturated society, it
might be a good idea for each of us to evaluate what percentage of time we
spent absorbing the word of God and Christian teaching in comparison with our
time spend watching TV, surfing the internet, reading magazines, newspapers or
listening to the opinions of our peers.
3. Be
reliable
It is possible to
know all the right things and not put them into practice. The other word Paul uses a lot in his letter
to Titus is the word good. There must be a correspondence between creed and
deed.
Titus is encouraged to live out that maxim in
his own life. Titus 2:7 “In everything set them an example by doing what is
good.”
Paul
shows us that Titus did do that.
-
Integrity
and faithfulness (2 Cor. 12:17-18)
-
Genuine
love for God’s people (2 Cor. 7:13–15
& 8:16-17)
-
Enthusiastic and used his own initiative (2 Cor. 7:6).
Possessing both strength and tact, Titus calmed a
desperate situation on more than one occasion. He is a good model for
Christians who are called to live out their witness in trying circumstances.
Healthy, godly lives are
rooted in the person of Jesus and what he has done. Titus’ own healthy spiritual life was an
outcome the operation of the Holy Spirit, given by God through Jesus Christ.
The inspiration to be ready,
realistic and reliable in our service comes from a response to all Jesus has
done for us.
Read Titus 2:4-8
God Bless
Alan
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