Thoughts on Titus 3

Today’s reading: Leviticus 17-18; Titus 3

The opening sentences of Titus chapter 3 are both really challenging, and also really convicting…

Let’s start with the part I find challenging:

"Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people."

Some of these reminders are more difficult for me than others, and I’m assuming that which ones are challenging is going to change from person to person, but there is a challenge here for all of us.

Many Christians today balk at the idea of being submissive to rulers and authorities because their political identity is more important than their identity in Christ. We have to remember, no matter how much we may disagree with a government leader, policy, or direction, when Paul wrote instructions like this, or like all of Romans 13, he was writing under Roman rulers like Nero who lit a garden party by filling his garden with Christians hung on crosses, covering them in tar, and lighting them on fire. Being submissive to rulers and authorities doesn’t mean agreeing with every decision they make, but it does mean recognizing the institution and authority of government as God given and submitting ourselves to that authority. For those of us in the US and in many other countries today, we have to opportunity to participate in government and to vote for/help shape policies and directions, and we should certainly avail ourselves of that opportunity, but we cannot dare make a comment like, “Paul just didn’t know what it would be like to have to submit to {INSERT_CURRENT_GOVERNMENT_FIGURE_HERE} when he wrote that,” given the immorality and sheer evil committed by the Roman governments under which he wrote and operated as a Christian. 

Being obedient is a challenging one for me. I am a very prideful person and tend to think that I know best in just about everything, so submitting myself to others, whether that is God, or whether that is the spiritual or practical authorities that exist in my life, is hard. To be obedient is to admit that I am not always right, my ways are not always best, and, even if my way is better, I don’t always get to be in charge. My pride doesn’t like obedience…

Being ready for every good work is frustrating when I have something else I would rather be doing. I really enjoy being able to help people practically, but, if I’m being honest, I really want it to be on my terms. I want to help people when it is convenient for me, and, ideally, in ways that I enjoy. But that low of a bar is not what Paul call us to here. We are to be ready for every good work. I know a couple people like this, that whenever a need arises, they are willing to set their own plans aside to be available to help meet that need, and just being around that level of willingness to be sacrificially available is hugely convicting. Imagine if the entire Body of Christ was so ready and available for every good work… How much would that transform our communities and bring incredible, practical, glory to God???

How about not speaking evil of anyone? Anybody else struggle with that one? But Paul probably didn’t realize how dumb and terrible some people would be in the 2020s! How could he really expect me to not deride people who {INSERT_THING_I_REALLY_DISAGREE_WITH_HERE}??? The only people Jesus directly spoke against were those who were actively leading people away from salvation, trying to turn them away from/against Jesus Himself. It doesn’t take nearly that much for me to speak evil of someone. Most days, all it really takes is someone making a decision I don’t agree with, or driving too slow in the left lane on the freeway before I’m ready to speak evil of them. I don’t really ever stop to think just how far this is from God’s heart for people…

I’m also not good at avoiding quarreling. I would, most of the time, rather be right than keep the peace. How many times in my life have I started or pursued a fight over something entirely inconsequential, solely because I was sure I was right? How many times did people bring wrong ideas and theology to Jesus that He could have “taken the bait” to quarrel and “fix” their understanding, be He chose not to? Not that He didn’t value truth or ever correct someone’s wrong understanding, but think of an example like the rich young ruler coming to Him and telling Him that he has kept every commandment his entire life, and asking what he was missing for salvation. Jesus could have gone all Sermon on the Mount on him and corrected him and quarreled with him over what constitutes keeping the commandments, but that wouldn’t have been helpful or fruitful for the man, so Jesus instead points him in a direction that will help him see what he isn’t willing to give over to God. But me? I don’t generally stop to think about what is best for the other person when my own pride and “right-ness” are on the line, I just think about being right. I am way too often and too easily quarrelsome.

And now I’m running out of time to talk about being gentle and perfectly courteous toward all people, so just add your own thoughts and convictions about those here…

Then the basis Paul gives Titus for these instructions:

"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. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 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, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

No matter how highly we like to think of ourselves, we were no different from these same people we want to disobey, speak evil of, quarrel with, deride, etc. and it is only by the grace of God that we can claim anything different.

We, as Christians, have been made new in Christ. God has taken our heart of stone and given us a heart of flesh. He has poured out His Spirit into our hearts to lead us, empower us, and transform us more and more into His image.

If God was so willing to love us, move toward us, die for us, and draw us to Himself, all while we were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to our passions, filled with malice and envy, hated, and hateful, how much more so should we be willing to move toward those same people in His name?

Ultimately, Paul is reminding us here that it is not up to us to decide who is worthy of God's grace. God has made His grace and forgiveness freely available to all people in Christ, but when we, following the flesh, ignore the reminders of Titus 3:1-2, and instead continue to operate and regard people as though we did not have the Spirit of the living God in our hearts, we create needless barriers between these people we have decided aren't worth our time, attention, or love, and the grace of God that Jesus died on the cross to extend to them.