What is the thing you most want in life? Perhaps its that new car or long overdue holiday. Lower interest rates on your home loan. Maybe a short break from the children or the prospect of a stress free Christmas. One researcher, Max-Neef, classifies fundamental our human needs as follows: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom.
The thing you need most in life is Christ-like Christianity. And Christ-like Christianity is about Jesus. Christ-like Christianity is all about blameless leadership—in our families, in our fellowships, in our churches and in our community. Christ-like Christianity rejects corruption and does not comprise on the content of the gospel. Christ-like Christianity is about the Father, the Son and the Spirit redeeming our world from the power of sin and the evil one. It’s about the creation of a new heavens and a new earth. This is the gospel message and Titus is to appoint leaders ‘who hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught’ (Tit 1:9).
As Paul teases out the implications of the trustworthy message in chapter 2, it is apparent that the central activity that is to take place in Christian community is that of teaching. Paul says to Titus in Tit 2:1, ‘You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine’. Then in verse 11, we see that it is the grace of God that teaches us, and as we believe what is taught, we are redeemed from wickedness and transformed into a people eager to do what is good.
We have already seen that that Titus must the teach older men and women the grace of God because worldly passions are never far away. Younger women struggle and are vulnerable. One way God provides for you is through mentoring by older women. Young men need strong role models and Titus is to model the godly life. And we must ask ourselves whether or not in this church these relationships are in place.
It comes as no surprise to me that self-control is first on the list for young men. Verse 6, ‘Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled’. This quality has appeared a few times in Titus, but here it comes first on the list. In fact, it’s the only quality on the list! And all the young men know why!
Perhaps the Teacher in Ecclesiastes offers the best advice, ‘Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment’ (Ecc 11:9).
Young men—enjoy your passion and creativity and strength and zeal for life. But remember that one day, the chickens will come home to roost! You are accountable to God. God will bring you to judgment. So exercise self-control—remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Enjoy life under the lordship of Christ. Be enthusiastic and energetic before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’ (Ecc 12:1).
Young men—be self-controlled. For the grace of God has something to say to you. Young men, say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and learn to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. You will stand out from others your age. Even the Cretan prophets saw the decadence of their own people. The Cretan young men had a reputation as always liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons (Tit 1:12). This cannot be so with you.
Titus himself is to model the Christian life for the Christian blokes around him. Verse 7, ‘In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us’. Not only is Titus to model qualities befitting any Christian leader, but in so doing he is setting himself up as a great model for young men. And young men like to imitate other young men whom they respect.
So Titus is to be a person of integrity, he is to take the Christian life seriously, he is to watch his speech for the sake of showing Christ-like Christianity to the young men. And remember, Titus, the young men aren’t the only ones watching you. The world is watching you as it is watching us even now. Verse 8 says that as we live in a manner consistent with the grace of God, our opponents will be brought to shame. Certainly other criticisms will come, but not the charge of a living a lie.
Every young man needs a Titus-like figure in his life. Mark Twain famously once said, ‘When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years’. It can be hard work engaging young men. Often strong-headed blokes will not recognise the wisdom of the old.
I’ve got three boys and often I need to correct and chastise them. They don’t like it and I don’t like it. The times I like the most are the times when I can be encouraging. I love to get alongside my boys and praise them for wise decisions and good behaviour. I want to encourage my boys to be self-controlled. I want to encourage them to practice Christ-like Christianity.
Teenagers—be a good model for the primary school kids. Young men—be a good model for the teenage guys. Older men—have a heart for the younger men. Young women—show the teenage girls how they can cope with the pressures of life. And older women—share your godly wisdom with our young, married women.
Know the truth and live the truth—for it speaks volumes to the world. We are to be different—not for the sake of difference—but for the sake of his holy Name. We have the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. We have sound doctrine and we are not to separate our beliefs from our actions. The truth must be taught and we are to train ourselves in that truth.
Young men, be holy, for the Lord your God is holy.
In the ancient world there were other relationships—particularly those between masters and slaves. Reading from verse 9, ‘Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive’.
The Roman world of Paul’s day was full of slaves. Around fifty million of them—including a third of the inhabitants of Rome. When Paul took the gospel to Crete, many slaves gave their hearts to the Lord. And they were confronted with this question, ‘How should I, as a Christian slave, relate to my master’? So Paul addresses this concern and in so doing he addresses some of our concerns of being a Christian in the workplace.
Titus is to teach slaves (verse 9) to be ‘subject to their masters in everything’. As younger women are to be subject to their husbands, so slaves are to be subject to their masters. It’s the same verb—the same concept working itself out in a different relationship.
Slaves are to be subject to their masters because that’s the proper response to those under the authority of someone else. And they are to be subject to their masters in ‘everything’—which is not to be taken in an absolute sense. If a master ordered his slave to steal or kill or lie, he is under no obligation to obey. His higher duty is to obey his Master in heaven. But when there is no clash of authority, the Christian slave is to be subject to his master in everything.
In the same way, an employer’s authority is not absolute. If, for example, you are instructed to do something dishonest or clearly untruthful at work, you are under no obligation to obey. Once my old boss in Public Works asked me to illegally copy computer software for him. I wouldn’t do it. He persisted but I wouldn’t do it. But where there is no conflict between the authority of God and the boss, do exactly what is expected of you—even if its something you would rather not do.
Campbell is right when he says that the basic issue is our sinful human hearts. There is a propensity in our hearts to reject authority because I have the right to live my life my way. In his book, Principles of Conduct, John Murray says, ‘There are few things more distasteful to modern man than subjection to authority and the demand for obedience to authority’.
In my old workplace, there was constant conflict between the engineers and the clerks. The clerks wanted to be the boss and the engineers knew they were the boss. It was all about power and control, fuelled by poor personal skills. And quite frankly, too often this is a problem in the church. But as Christians, we are not to engage in these types of disputes. ‘Slaves be subject to your masters in everything’. Paul fills out this command in verses 9 and 10: ‘try to please them’, don’t talk back to them’, ‘do not steal from your boss’—show that you can be fully trusted.
A lazy and careless slave will not please his master. So try to satisfy your boss whenever possible—whether that be voluntary or paid employment. We need to be reliable and hardworking and not do our work with a resentful spirit and with scathing words. A sign in a San Francisco florist shop said, ‘If you don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, you ought to be here five minute before quitting time’!
I’ve had friends who, without hesitation, stole things from the workplace. Is there not a commandment, ‘Do not steal’? And Paul reiterates in verse 10 that we should not steal from our masters. What is in mind is not so much massive fraud—that’s obviously out. Paul has in mind pilfering which is petty thieving. Office stationery, little bits and pieces, things that will not be missed, exaggerating claims.
Many people see no harm in taking the small things. But we must be scrupulously honest. If it does not belong to us, if we have no right to it, if we do not have permission to take it, then leave it right alone. Then we will not dishonour God (verse 5) and our opponents will see us and have no reason to accuse us of wrongdoing (verse 8). Such behaviour will, according to verse 10, ‘make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive’. I like the ESV translation. ‘Titus, teach the slaves to be subject to their masters […] so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour’.
Possibly the only regular contact your work colleagues have with a Christian is you. Why do you work? You work because being idle leads to mischief—you work so that you are not a burden on others—you work to put food in your mouth and provide for your family (2 Thess 3). And then Paul says in his letter to Titus that our conduct at work is of the utmost importance. Wiersbe says that ‘when we serve faithfully, we “beautify the Bible” and make the Christian message attractive to unbelievers’.
‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people’. It teaches older men and older women, it teaches younger men and younger women, it teaches slaves to say ‘”No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age’ (Tit 2:11–12). For in this present age (verse 13) ‘we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are eager to do what is good’.
With the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we see the greatest outpouring of God’s generosity—for he did not even spare his own Son. For our sake, the second person of the Trinity became a man, he lived amongst us, and he died our death by taking his sin upon himself. This is the way he brings forgiveness and mercy—he brought salvation for us. And not just for us, but for all people who put their trust in Jesus—for the ELDERLY, for the young, for male and female, for rich and poor; whatever race, whatever nation, whatever age, he makes salvation possible for all people.
Now this marvellous outpouring of God’s generosity not only saves us, but as we have seen, it also trains us—verse 12. But you cannot understand this training unless you understand the grace that has appeared. And you will not be trained by this grace unless you are a recipient of the grace that has appeared. Unless you are saved by this grace, you will never be trained by this grace. But if you have been saved by this grace, you will be trained by this grace.
The grace of God does not leave us forgiven so we can go on sinning. We are not pardoned so we can continue to keep rebelling against God. The grace of God trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and it trains us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. It does this in the present age as we await the return of the Lord Jesus.
Notice how our waiting is expressed in verse 13, ‘we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’. We are waiting for the splendid appearance of our Saviour who is the Lord Jesus. Here is a verse of the Bible which explicitly calls Jesus, God. Jesus is called ‘God’ because that is who he is. His Father is our God and he is our God. And yet there is only one God. And God the Son did something remarkable, according to verse 14, ‘he gave himself for us’.
God’s grace is not only the giving of himself for our salvation. God’s grace is also the giving of his Son for our salvation. We must remember that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. And God did not impose upon his unwilling Son the punishment of the world—as if Jesus had no say in the matter.
Gordon White somehow offends me (hypothetically of course). And I say to Gordon, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll punish Jean Relph in your place’. How would you feel? Gordon would feel great and Jean would be stunned. There’s no justice in that. How can that be fair? Then you and I sin against our Heavenly Father and God says, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll punish my son instead’. How can that be fair? Is it fair that an innocent third party is punished in my place?
But remember the Son is God. Remember that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. It’s not an innocent third party who is being punished. When we sin we offend the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And God’s response it to absorb into himself the sinfulness of mankind. It’s not a third party being punished for us. It is the Lord Jesus who willingly obeyed his Father’s will. No-one took his life from him. He laid it down. Or as verse 14 puts it, ‘He gave himself for us’. And that’s the very nature of grace: its giving, its generosity.
God the Son gave himself—we are saved by the grace of God. We are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this gift was not cheap. It was not an inexpensive toy that was given away. Nor was this gift an expensive toy that was affordable only to the rich. This gift was the most expensive gift for anybody. This gift was expensive even for God. For this gift was God giving his very life for our salvation.
Jesus didn’t give something. He gave everything. He gave himself for us order to redeem us, you’ll see there in verse 14. He gave himself ‘for us’ as our representative, as the one who stood in our place. We were the ones in captivity—we were the ones needing redemption. We needed a ransom to free us from captivity.
Now we probably don’t feel like we’re in captivity. Most of us feel as though we’re free. In one sense we are free and we have a lot to be thankful for. We have many freedoms in this country. But there are other forms of captivity which we need to be released from. For the unregenerate person has been captured by the evil one to do his works. We were willing rebels in a cosmic fight against God.
If you were really in control of your life, why can’t you keep doing the good things you want to do? And why can’t you stop doing those things you don’t want to do? Why do you keep failing? We are held in captivity. We participate in a cosmic rebellion against God and we continue to choose our master who is the ‘father of lies’—which is why telling lies is so normal for us. The domain of Satan in verse 14 is referred to as ‘wickedness’ or ‘lawlessness’. And the Lord Jesus gave himself up for us to free us from the captivity of the evil one.
He did this in order ‘to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good’ (Tit 2:14). Jesus gave himself not only to rescue us out of our slavery, but also to purify us. He didn’t redeem us from lawlessness so we could remain outlaws. He didn’t redeem us from wickedness so we could remain wicked.
What is the character of the life you now live? The Lord Jesus gave himself to purify you—to teach you to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions. You have been rescued from captivity and now you belong to him. You have been created to be people who are eager to do what is good. So teach one another the gospel—train one another in holiness—and be thankful to him. ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men’.
