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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.
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.
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