Biblical Arguments? Series

God is good…. All the time…

We have noted over and over again in the Letter to Titus that all Christians are to pursue godliness! And so if God is good all the time; all the time God is good, as we pursue godliness, we are to do good! These are the 2 main themes of this Letter to Titus, which is a letter to all Christians.

Last week we noted 3 truths which motivate us to pursue godliness and to do good:

1. God graciously gave us Jesus Christ to save us from the eternal judgment of our sins.

2. God uses us as instruments to lead others to heaven.

3. Jesus Christ will gloriously appear at any moment to bring us to heaven!

Let us all take a pause and think about these truths for a moment; quietly note to yourself, on a scale from 1-10, how strongly do you believe in each one of these truths??

Again let us note that our motivation to do good is dependent on how strongly we agree to these truths!

Let us continue to learn how to pursue godliness and do good through Titus chapter 3…

Read along with me Titus 3:1-11……

We already noted from Titus Chapter 2 that employees are to be subject to their bosses; take a quick look again with me Titus 2:9-10….

Christian workers are to do good in their jobs and make their bosses look good for what purpose??

Christians are to do good at work and make their bosses look good so those witnessing these Christians will be attracted to Jesus Christ. We have noted that the main theme of this letter to Titus is for Christians to pursue godliness; and Godliness produces goodness and goodness leads to witness!

Let us note here that godliness always comes first. For example, your boss tells you to do something sinful, and because you heard that you are to please your boss and make him/her look good, you sin. what kind of a witness will you be for Christ when you sin in public? Only God is good and everything we think and do must always first line up with God! God is priority #1! Family is priority #2 and I beleive your church is priority #3 and your job supports these priorities!

And so, as we continue to learn in Titus 3,

v1: be subject, obedient, and ready to do good to those who have authority over us; again, as long as it does not oppose what God says.

And v2 tells us how to be good: slander no one, peaceable and considerate, and show true humility; if God is first in our lives then we will yield to God the Holy Spirit who will produce godly fruit through us!

God tells Christians in v1-2 to do good then the Christian leaders testifies in v3-8.

What can we learn from v3-8??

a. Life before Christ was enslaved to sin (pleasing self not God).

b. What God gave for Christians:

- Kindness and love

- Salvation

- Rebirth and renewal

- Heirs of God

- Eternal life in heaven

And take a look again at v8………..

What is that saying to us?

c. Christians can do good and be devoted to good only because of Jesus Christ!

What else can we note from v9-11 about doing good and being committed to Jesus Christ?

v9….. What is the law?

The original Greek word for the law here is "nomikos" which means relating to the Law not necessarily the Bible! Picture 2 Rabbis arguing (or even 2 Christians today), using their own wisdom, if God really created everything in 6 days; can you see all the energy, time, emotions, and brain work put into arguing about what God said in Genesis 1? What do we note at the end of v9 what God thinks of all this energy, time, emotions, and brain work put into arguing about the Bible??

In other words, arguing about what is not clear in the Bible is useless and gains nothing!

And what does v10 alludes to? Arguing leads to division; therefore warn twice those who argue about what’s not clear in the Bible, then part from them if they continue to be stubborn!

Applications to our lives today are straight forward from this passage.

1. Always keep in mind the goodness of God to you through Jesus Christ, which will lead you to godliness and doing good yourself.

2. Do not waste time in arguing about what is not clear in Scriptures!

How many of you have run into someone who just likes to argue about things related to the bible but not really what the bible directly states??

Here are examples I’ve heard people argue about when they are not clear in the Bible: