COORDINATED MINISTRY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.

Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Titus 3:12-13, 15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the Apostle Paul during his years of Gospel ministry, especially in regard to the challenges he faced. For from the moment he received his Gospel calling after his Damascus encounter with Jesus, Paul labored tirelessly for the cause of Christ and the salvation of others.

Christianity was a fledgling religion at the time, far less established than other world belief systems. And so as Paul embarked on his missionary journeys, he was first introducing and then attempting to entrench the Gospel through establishing Christian churches in places where there was sure to be push back and opposition. And yet, he was undeterred in his drive to serve Jesus and answer His call to evangelize to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

As he did this and planted churches across what we know as Europe and Asia today, he also had to identify, train, and appoint missionary leaders to assist him as he couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. Through the Book of Acts and his epistles, which dominate the New Testament after the Gospels, we read of Paul writing directly to leaders he has appointed to pastor churches (i.e. Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete) but we also read about how he was constantly coordinating ministry, dispatching and retrieving missionaries from one place to another. It had to be something constantly on Paul’s minds as he tried to make sure all planted churches and their congregations were ministered to properly and protected from attempts to introduce false teaching.

As we close out our study of Titus, we get a brief glimpse into some of the ministry organizing Paul was always engaged in. Look again at his words here:

As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.

Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all. Titus 3:12-13, 15

In just two verses, we find Paul dictating movement for six men.

Of interest, Artemas, who Paul was possibly sending to Crete to relieve Titus, is only mentioned here in the scriptures and we don’t know much about him outside of that he had to be trusted by Paul to carry on Titus’ Gospel efforts on the island. Likewise, Zenas, identified as a lawyer, is only found in these verses but we know he is on Crete and being dispatched along with Apollos, a converted Jew who Paul first met in Ephesus and eventually spent a lot of time ministering in Corinth (Acts 18:18-27, 1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4-6 and 22, 4:6, 16:12). You may remember Paul sharing this with the Corinthians as they were debating whether he or Apollos was the greater apostle:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6  

Note that Titus was to send off Zenas and Apollos with “everything they” needed to journey where Paul wanted them and the destinations aren’t mentioned.

Tychicus was also mentioned along with Artemas as possible replacements for Titus who Paul wanted to come to be with him in Nicopolis, the location on the west coast of Greece that the apostle had chosen to stay for the winter. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul identifies Tychicus as the bearer of his letter and calls him a “dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord (4:7). We also know that Paul’s dedicated missionary partner was dispatched to Ephesus at one point as well (Ephesians 6:21, 2 Timothy 4:12). He was no stranger to being deployed by Paul when needed which underscored how Paul trusted him.

After spending most of his letter instructing Titus in regard to leading and strengthening the Cretan Christian church, Paul shows us a glimpse of the ministry coordination that was needed to ensure all the churches he established were well cared for. This ministry coordination has continued through the history of the church to present times but we need to remember that it wasn’t as easy to travel from place to place in biblical times or before the advent of modern transportation, industrialization, and commercialization. Logistics were far more difficult in New Testament times than they ever are today, for sure.

And yet, the Gospel and the early Christian churches not only survived but thrived because ultimately, it was the Lord who ensured it happened. Paul and the others played their respective parts with some planting, some watering, some weeding, and some continuing to care for what was planted but ultimately it was God who made it grow, just as He does today and will so forevermore.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

AVOID DIVISIVENESS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

Titus 3:9-11

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When you read the scriptures regarding what the Lord expects the Christian church to be, here’s one thing that is undeniable.

The Lord expects the church to be united in Christ, the Head.

Now, with this, ask yourself this:

How well is the church meeting the Lord’s expectation?

Frankly, we’re failing badly.

It’s not that we are so divided denominationally with schisms happening even within denominations. It’s that we aren’t even uniting ecumenically between churches.

Indeed, the Christian church which is to have one shared identity and common mission mandated by Jesus has become segmented into over 100 denominations and non-denominational congregations who seem to develop polity in order to justify their uniqueness and identity from others. Much of this polity has skewed toward accepting and adopting the world’s way of living to such an extent that the Christian church in many places looks the same as the world does.

Further, Christian church congregations rarely join in fellowship together. The body of Christ has become a collection of disjointed parts, each of which behaving as not needing the others. This is contrary to the scriptures and what they say the church is supposed to look like. Consider these words from 1 Corinthians, chapter 12:

...the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Vv. 14-27

Just as a body wouldn’t function without all parts carrying out the responsibilities set forth by their Creator, so too will the Christian church fail miserably in its Gospel mission if it attempts to try and operate while divided.

What’s the old saying?

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

As a church universal, all Christians need to confess the failure of divisiveness in the body and start tearing down barriers to come together for the cause of Christ and the Great Commission. If that would happen, if the church would truly be ONE body, it would be a Christian revival unlike anything witnessed in human history and people would want to join it just from the mere power found within.

Now, this is a macro look at the church and divisiveness but as we look at our passage for today, we find Paul addressing the issue in a more micro fashion, addressing possible issues within the Cretan church head on. Look at his words to Titus and the other Christian believers on the island with him:

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned. Titus 3:9-11

As we saw earlier in this letter, there was a threat within the Cretan Christian church from false teaching. Here’s what he wrote in chapter 1:

For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Vv. 10-11, 13-16

The bottom line was that these false teachings were a threat to the unity of the Cretan church. The focus was to be on the pure, true Gospel as it had been established and anyone who participated in efforts to change it or add additional doctrine had to be squelched.

These false teachings included “meaningless talk and deception” which included attempts to add circumcision as a prerequisite to salvation as well as foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the Mosaic Law. Engaging in any of these things too much would be “unprofitable and useless”.

Satan often distracts the Christian church but bogging believers down in debate and infighting over polity that is non-scriptural. These prolonged battles take attention away from the Gospel and are counterproductive in regard to the Great Commission work the church is supposed to be engaged in, the work to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).

This is why we find God’s word providing set guidance on confronting those who try and bring forth nonsense that subtracts or adds or distorts the very inerrant, God-breathed nature of the Holy Scriptures.

When a person tries to be divisive and holds to falsehood, warn them twice and if they refuse to change their view, “have nothing” more to do with them. After all, they are accountable to the Lord first and foremost and He will judge their warped, sinful spiritual attitudes. They are self-condemned before Him.

In the end translation, there’s way too much at stake for the church to allow itself to become distracted from the Great Commission mission at hand. As in the church universal, any one single body only functions the way the Lord intends when all parts are in sync and healthy, functioning in a productive way.

The call from the scriptures today is to avoid divisiveness and we have a lot of work to do in this regard as the Christian church to be the one body we are called to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

CAREFUL DEVOTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

Titus 3:8b, 14

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the end of his letter to Titus and the Christians living on the island of Crete, the Apostle Paul wanted to remind the believers as to how they were to live and the hope they lived under because of God’s redeeming, justifying work carried out by Jesus His Son, a hope gained through the rebirth and renewal of their souls through the Holy Spirit.

This blessed salvation assurance took away any question about what the future held for the Cretan Christians and could liberate them to carry out the Great Commission calling Jesus had given. We see the exhortation to be devoted to the cause of Christ in our verses for today. Look again at Paul’s words here:

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.

Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. Vv. 8b, 14

All that the Apostle had written prior were to be points of emphasis used by his brother and sisters in Christ on Crete as they sought to make disciples. And as they helped people place their belief and trust in Jesus and the God who sent Him to save, they could carefully “devote themselves to doing what is good”, to do things that would be “excellent and profitable for everyone”.

These lives lived for Christ would never be void of accomplishment because they would be led by the Holy Spirit. Christian evangelists would always be in the right place at the right time to share the right message with the right person or people. The Lord always puts His people where He wants them to be to fulfill His divine purposes when they submit themselves fully to His direction. He will always guide His workers to “provide for urgent needs” which will always be considered productive work that is pleasing in His sight.

The call here was for a careful devotion, careful because caution needs to be exercised to ensure devotion is directed toward the right place. The world, Satan’s domain, certainly beckons to all people with any number of things that would seek to draw our devotion and attention away from where it needs to be. With this, Christians need to keep their eyes, hearts, and minds firmly fixed on the cross and the empty tomb where salvation was born to meet every person’s most urgent need, the need for a saved soul that would lead to eternal life.

With this, the scriptures would pose questions to us today:

Where is your devotion directed?

Is it Christ-centered with a focus on being as devoted to God and others as He was?

If so, are you allowing your Christ-centered devotion to drive you into action so that you are devotion yourself to good while meeting urgent needs while being excellent and profitable towards everyone in the name of Jesus?

As we move closer to the season of Advent, these questions can serve to better prepare ourselves to live and give selflessly before celebrating God’s greatest gift ever given.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

AFTER CHRIST

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 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, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.

Titus 3:4-8a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Think about where a person is before they choose to believe in Jesus, their state before Christ.

Every single person minus Jesus is dead in the sin that enslaves them, doomed by their foolish acts of iniquity and utter disobedience. They embrace their own pleasures and passions fueled by a world influence that encourages self satisfaction and self centeredness. And such behavior is carried out before a God who despises and hates sinfulness, a God who will exchange judgment, wrath, and punishment for the disrespect and disregard shown to Him. Without a change, the unbeliever is destined for Hell and eternal damnation.

This was the summary of what we covered in yesterday’s message, drawing from verse 3 found within chapter 3 of Paul’s letter to Titus and the Christians who were with him on the island of Crete.

As stated in that message, we can’t fully appreciate what God did to save us through His Son Jesus until we realize the hopeless place we’re in without a Savior. Today, we are reminded about how everything changes for the better after someone chooses to believe in Christ. Let’s go back to Titus 3 and pick up where we left off yesterday. Paul writes the following:

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 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, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. Vv. 4-8a

Note here that God didn’t save us because of any “righteous things” we did. There was no checklist of holy accomplishments we needed to complete before gaining salvation. No, God saved us completely of His own bidding out of “the kindness and love” He has for all people He has created and through His perfect grace and mercy. Period.

In other words, salvation is a gift we don’t deserve that was purchased by the ultimate sacrifice that we caused. Jesus paid for our pardon by bearing all our sin and willingly laying down His life like a Good Shepherd does for His sheep (John 10:11). And He did so because it was the will of His Father (Mark 14:35-36).

Indeed, God so loved the world that He gave up His only Son so that whoever believed in Him wouldn’t perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

When someone believes in Jesus, everything changes for the better. Paul puts it this way in his second letter to the Christians in Corinth:

Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

As we turn back to our passage from Titus 3, we find the scriptures showing us three characteristics that define the new life in Christ Jesus.

First, a person is reborn. The “old life is gone” and a “new life has begun”, a new life that trades in the world’s way of living for the way that Jesus lived. Go back to the conversation that Jesus had with a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who visited in the dark of night.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:1-6

When anyone willingly believes in Jesus as Savior, they automatically receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that enters in to dwell within them (Acts 2:38) and that Spirit’s presence and influence drives the internal rebirth, a rebirth that results in the second benefit of choosing to believe in Christ as Savior, renewal.

This renewal happens from the inside out. The Holy Spirit, the God-sent Counselor and Advocate Jesus spoke to guide believers after He ascended (John 14:26), transforms and rewires a person’s soul, heart, and mind so that there is a shift in what influences behavior. The new Christian experiences a new way of living with every thought, word, and act intentionally carried out to satisfy and please God, just as Jesus lived.

In other words, the Holy Spirit leads a renewed believer to show the Christ in Christian by reflecting the life of their Savior.  

The final important gift granted to anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior is justification.

Need a good illustration to always remember what justification means?

Picture yourself being called before God to answer for your life. You have to defend yourself as a sinner against a perfectly just Judge who will uncompromisingly punish anyone charged with sinfulness for all eternity.

It’s a hopeless scene, isn’t it? For what could you ever say to God to justify the sins you have committed?

It would take a miracle to save you but in steps Jesus. He turns to God and says that He (Jesus) has already paid the penalty for the sins you committed.

And with that, God pardons you and instead of eternal punishment, He sends you to Heaven and eternal life.

Jesus justifies everyone who believes in Him. He makes them as if they had never sinned because He bore their sins on the cross.

And through belief in Jesus, we are not only saved by Him but we become co-heirs with Him to the very Kingdom of God. Talk about going from rags to riches, right?

Friends, before we believed in Jesus, we were destined for Hell and everlasting suffering. Today, millions upon millions of people are still in that place, ignoring or unknowing that they are teetering on the edge of disaster by being void of salvation with every passing minute. This is why Jesus called us to be active every day in making disciples of all nations and helping the lost find the rebirth, renewal, and justification that comes only by believing in Christ as Savior.

This is what Paul was urging Titus and the Cretan Christians to do and it’s what the scriptures are still calling us to do today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

BEFORE CHRIST

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Titus 3:3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have always held to the belief that we can’t fully appreciate what God did for mankind through willingly sacrificing His Son Jesus until we fully realize the fallen state everyone was in and continues to be in outside of Christ. In today’s message, we are going to touch on where mankind is without Jesus and we will follow up tomorrow discussing how everything changes the moment anyone places their belief in Him as Savior. Both messages will be based on Paul’s words to Titus and the Christian believers on the island of Crete in the final chapter of his letter. Look at these words from verse 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 (3:3).

I want to focus on three main traits in a person that place them in a place of dangerous opposition to God and in the crosshairs of His eternal judgment.

First, a person who is living separate from Christ is foolish.

At one time we too were foolish.

Here we find Paul reminding the Cretan Christians that before they believed in Jesus, they were nothing but fools, fools for choosing the world and its ways while rejecting the new life God was offering them through His Son.

Fools do foolish things and every form of sinful behavior is foolhardy as it is carried out in plain view of a God who despises it. He doesn’t tolerate such conduct and will send punishment on anyone or any group of people who flaunt transgressive living before Him. Consider how that worked out for Sodom and Gomorrah and then ask yourself if God couldn’t easily destroy you too.

Only a fool would think He couldn’t.

The second place we are in minus Jesus is enslaved and dead in our sins.

One of my favorite present time pastors, John MacArthur, said this:

“Everyone is a slave to something. You are either a slave to sin or Christ.”

It can’t be both ways. A person chooses to be enslaved by one or the other.

Before Christ, we foolishly opted to be married to sin. We wanted to embrace and embellish our own passions and pleasures by following the world’s ways instead of surrendering and exchanging them for the ways of Jesus. And this choice to remain in the bondage of sin, shackled by our iniquities, placed us on the road to death and eternal damnation in Hell.

Indeed, many people today are still on that wide road to destruction that Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (7:13-14).

Fools are foolish because they decide enslavement to sin and walking the road to Hell is more favorable that being saved.

Finally, people living without Christ are disobedient. They have no respect or regard for the very God who made them in His own image, the God who reigns over them and established set guidelines to live by, guidelines the non-believer gives no attention or care to.

A person’s disobedient behavior dishonors the God of all Creation, the Maker and Master over everything in Heaven and on earth. It disrespects the Lord who holds infinite power, a Lord who can wipe out any man or woman with ease.

Did I mention a life apart from God’s offer of salvation through Jesus is foolishness?

Indeed, anyone who would dare God to do something about blatant disobedience and a passion for sin is a fool in the purest sense of the word.

I pray you can say like Paul that this is the kind of person you used to be, the person you were before you surrendered your life to Jesus. If not, today can be the day of your salvation and I urge you to make the needed change to move from foolishness and a destiny of Hell to becoming an heir to the very Kingdom of Heaven, one of the many blessings one experiences after placing their belief in Christ, blessings we will cover in tomorrow’s second message.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

HELPFUL REMINDERS (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Titus 3:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s opening message in this short two message series, we found the Apostle Paul providing Titus and the Christian believers living on the island of Crete some helpful reminders on how to live every day in the name of Jesus. By extension, these reminders still apply us today.

So far, here’s what God’s word has reminded us to do:

1. To be subject to rulers and authorities.

2. To be obedient.

3. To be ready to do whatever is good.

Today in part 2, we finish by being reminded of four other key behaviors we need to adopt every day. They include:

1. To slander no one.

Remind the people...to slander no one.

As Christians, we are called to call out sin when we see it but there is a line we can’t cross and it is drawn at judgment.

The scriptures command us to reject the urge to judge others because it is the domain of God and Him alone. No sinner can promote and project themselves to be any better than another person because as the Bible tells us, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

What we can do is identify sin and then try and help someone see the wrongs of their ways. God’s word actually demands that the church do so as Jesus called for congregants to hold one another accountable (Matthew 18:15-17).

What we can’t do is get personal and attack others with our words in an attempt to tear them down. This is slanderous behavior that is prohibited.

Slander typically happens when there is a sense of competition between people. We just finished up a round of elections in many parts of America and all you need to do to see slander first hand is to watch any number of the political ads on the run up to election day. Sadly, it has become the norm for one candidate to spend a lot of money to slander their opponents instead of simply stating what they plan to do to benefit their constituents if elected. If these candidates for office would know the Bible, they would refrain from such behavior for the scriptures clearly tell believers to slander no one.

And no one means not one single person.

2. To be peaceable.

Remind the people...to be peaceable.

We have our identity as Christians because we have chosen to believe in Jesus who the prophet Isaiah said was the “Prince of peace”. And since Jesus was perfect, He knew how to manifest peace flawlessly.

This didn’t mean that He wasn’t confrontational at times. He stood firm against sin and injustice, especially when it came to violations against His Father God (reference the accusations of hypocrisy against the Jewish religious authorities and the overturning of the money changer tables outside the temple).

Outside of this, Jesus preached and practiced peace, even when He may have had the right to go to war against those who wronged Him. One of the many things I marvel at as Jesus was crucified was how He was mocked regarding His power and assertion of being the prophesied Messiah. He could have easily saved Himself and commanded legions of angels to descend from the heavens to destroy His adversaries but He didn’t. Instead, He asked for His Father’s forgiveness to be upon His assailants because they failed to understand what they were really doing.

Jesus chose to be a Peacemaker and going back to His first public teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, we remember Him saying this:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

When we believe in Jesus as Savior, we automatically receive the Holy Spirit and become a child of God. We also accept a responsibility to be a peacemaker, following the lead of our Savior. Our scripture verses at the beginning of Titus 3 provide a helpful reminder of this.

3. To be considerate.

Remind the people...to be...considerate.

I don’t know about you but it seems to me that we have become less and less caring and concerned for the welfare of others. I believe this is because people have become too self centered instead of self sacrificing.

Indeed, selfishness breeds an “it’s all about me” kind of persona in someone and that attitude couldn’t be further away from where a person should be if they profess themselves as Christian. For there was nothing about Jesus and the way He lived His life that showed He cared about Himself more than others. He was always ready to sacrifice for another person’s good and He did it all the way to Calvary’s cross.

If we’re going to truly be a Christian, we need to reflect Jesus in the way we live and this means an intentional devotion to being considerate of others, ensuring we love and care for them as He would.

4. To always be gentle toward everyone.

Remind the people...always to be gentle toward everyone.

I love how commands in the Bible remove any wiggle room that might allow a Christian to pick and choose who they can and can’t behave toward in the prescribed way or when they should do it.

Here, the final helpful reminder from verse 2 of Titus 3 demands that we always be gentle, not to just a select number of people but rather everyone.

Paul echoes this order in his letter to the Christians in Philippi as he wrote this in the fourth chapter:

Let your gentleness be evident to all (v. 5).

Perhaps we can best understand what it means to be gentle to everyone by first looking at the polar opposite of this expectation. For a person who fails to be gentle in the way they treat others will exhibit these traits:

- callousness

- gruffness

- abrasiveness

- thoughtlessness

- unpleasantness

- disagreeableness

- grouchiness

You get the picture, right?

Maybe you have met a few Christian people who were less than gentle in the way they dealt with others. Some might simply refer to them as “rough around the edges”. Others might just avoid associating with them altogether to avoid their negativity and general bad attitude about life.

In this final helpful reminder, God’s word is telling us to never be that kind of person. We should reflect the joy and love of Jesus toward everyone and do so always. It’s really non-negotiable and I love that but frankly it isn’t hard to do if we simply submit our hearts and minds and souls to the leading of the Holy Spirit for He will always ensure our life mimics the life of the One who saved us.

Don’t slander anyone.

Be peaceable and considerate.

Always be gentle toward everyone.

We’re called by the scriptures to examine ourselves and how well we are living in these regards as Christians and I don’t know about you but I am thankful for these helpful reminders from our Lord who wants us to be as He created us, in His own image (Genesis 1:27).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

HELPFUL REMINDERS (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Titus 3:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As I invest time in reading from the scriptures every day, I find myself blessed by the consistent, helpful reminders that leap off the page and enter my heart, mind, and soul, reminders about how the Lord expects for me to live my life.

We all need this because although we are in Christ, we are also immersed in a world that is counter to Christ and His way of living in so many ways. The enemy is working overtime daily to try and convince Christian believers to alter their views and opinions, appealing to a person’s reasoning and understanding of how things are supposed to be. Many pastors today have fallen into this trap and have decided to conform their church to the world’s ideals instead of remaining faithful to the sacredness of the inerrant word of God.

When it comes right down to it, we can’t have it both ways.

We can’t be a true Christian while having one foot in the world and the other in Jesus. He uncompromisingly gave up His life and surrendered everything to bear our sins and save us from God’s judgment. The least we can do to honor Him is to stay fully committed to Him and His ways for after all Jesus is THE Way and THE Truth and THE Life, the ONLY One who can bring us to the Father. He told us this Himself (John 14:6).

This means that no one or nothing else is the way or the truth or the life. Only Jesus, so don’t allow someone to convince you otherwise. Only He can save and bring someone to Heaven forever when they place their belief in Him.

Did I mention the scriptures offer us helpful reminders?

Well, as we return to our study of Titus, fresh off of celebrating all that the Lord has done and is doing for us with thanksgiving, we find the Paul providing more helpful reminders to Titus who we know was left on the island of Crete to further establish the Christian church there. In the first two verses of chapter 3, we find this from the Apostle:

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.

Note here that Titus was expected to provide this call to remember to “the people” of Crete and today, we read them as extended toward us as well. In part one of this series, we look at the first three of these helpful reminders.

1. To be subject to rulers and authorities.

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities.

In my lifetime here in America, I can’t remember a time that has been more politically volatile as it is today. Our country is polarized and the venomous exchanging of insults and hate seems to have no end. Unfortunately, many Christians have jumped into the fray and the middle of this free-for-all, even when the scriptures call us to be “subject to rulers and authorities”. It doesn’t say we need to agree with those in governance but we are to submit to their authority.

Why?

Well, maybe this additional passage from the scriptures will further reinforce the words from Titus.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Romans 13:1-2

Ultimately, God establishes governing authorities. He is the One who places them in positions of governance and, in turn, they are accountable to Him for the way they conduct themselves. Therefore, it’s God’s place to judge, not ours, and anyone who decides to trump God and rebel against what He “has instituted” will “bring judgment on themselves”.

Let that sink in for a minute.

So if you’re a Christian and you feel yourself being influenced to behave as the world does when they find disfavor with someone in government, revolting and judging in a spirit of hatred, recall this helpful reminder and give the matter to God to handle.

2. To be obedient.

Remind the people...to be obedient

I find it completely fascinating that this immediately follows the call to be subject to governing authorities. It’s as if the Lord is saying to us, “Just in case you’re feeling tempted to violate my first reminder, I require you to comply with what I tell you.”

If God’s word tells us to do something, we are to do it. If He tells us to not do something, we aren’t to do it.

It’s really as simple as that.

Read His Word and do what it says as James exhorts (James 1:22). It’s what his brother Jesus would have done and as Christians, it’s what we need to do as well, without concession.

3. To be ready to do whatever is good.    

Remind the people...to be ready to do whatever is good.

Prior to Titus, we were looking at Paul’s second letter to Timothy. In the third chapter, we read these incredible words of truth about the Word of God:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

God breathes life into His Word and we are blessed with getting to read and study it today. Every scripture is useful for many things in life like “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness”, all the while “thoroughly” preparing every Christian believer to carry out “every good work”.

In other words, the scriptures first ready us and then activate our motivation to do good toward others, while honoring and glorifying the Lord.

As we enter the Christmas season, there will be ample opportunities to do good. I pray all Christians will be ready to make a difference when needed.

Tomorrow, we’ll finish this brief series with a look at four more reminders.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com