Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/Titus (8:21)
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:1756-59, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wiersbe) Volume II, p. 267-8.
https://www.goodsoil.com/blog/repent-and-or-believe-two-steps-or-two-sides/
https://www.thehistoryofart.org/albrecht-durer/praying-hands/
https://stories4homilies.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/story-behind-the-picture-of-praying-hands/
So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move this letter to Titus. A confidant of Paul’s sent to Crete to fix some of the issues that had arisen in the island's network of house churches. Paul had seen these issues before and would see them again in other areas. In fact, we are still dealing with some of them today.
With that being said, let’s jump into the letter. Open your bible or bible app to Titus 2:11. While you're doing that let us pray.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
What a wonderful statement. Jesus' appearance changes the status quo. His coming opened the door to everyone to be with God for eternity. “All” is a keyword in this scripture. There is no longer us and them, or Jew and Gentile. Only those who choose to accept the offer through repentance and belief versus those who do not.
I can remember a number of years ago having a discussion with a mentor about the process of repent and believe. I wondered aloud to him if for some people the order could be reversed. That is, could someone come to believe in Jesus (faith) and then repent. He flippantly said no because the bible tells us so and walked off. I was left to wrestle with the idea.
I wanted the assurance that I became a Christ follower in the right way. It sounds a bit silly now but at that time, I was unsure I ever really repented before acknowledging a belief in or my faith. Sure I did the catholic confession but that was more about not getting punished or not wanting the cosmic forces of this world against my goals. I think the traditional religious practices of my upbringing confused my understanding of “repentance” and “penance.”
The basic meaning of penance is to express sorrow for sin. The main word for repentance (metanoia) in the New Testament has a very different meaning—“to change one’s mind.” It’s a mind-change that is so deep-seated that the person’s total being—values, choices, and lifestyle behaviors—will be impacted. Often, this change will be accompanied by expressions of sorrow.
So after a little further study, I believe the way of viewing repentance and faith (or belief) is that they are two simultaneous facets (flip sides) of the same action:
(1) At the same time that I initially trust (believe) in Christ to be my Savior
(2) I am abandoning (repenting of) the trust that I formerly placed in other things.
As I repent and believe my transformation begins. A new power has entered and the life long process of becoming more like Jesus begins. The churchy word for this is “sanctification.” It’s a process of change that we all can observe. When a person’s mind is changed, their actions follow suit. The more they move towards Christ, the more we see them motivated to demonstrate Jesus to the world around them. Selfish and self centered motivations and actions become less the driving force of their lives. Paul reminds Titus and the hearers of this letter.
12 It (our metanoia (bob’s clarification) teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.
Paul brings up the subject of being ready to “do whatever is good” seven different times in this letter. As you heard in the video, this was Paul’s missionary strategy - be willing to do good. It’s a follower of Jesus who helps and supports the work inside the community of faith. It’s also just as, if not more important, to serve those outside the faith. In so doing, the people of faith build a reputation of / for assisting those in need to the point of being sacrificial. It is in this sacrificial work we most dramatically point to Jesus and his work on our behalf.
Metanoia leads to a process of Christian evolution which demonstrates the inner change by an eagerness to be more like Jesus in word and deed.
Communion as a commitment to this change
During Prayer Time - I will share the following story
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen!!!!! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood
.
Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder’s children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.
After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact.
They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines. They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church.
Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.
When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht’s triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition.
His closing words were, “And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you.” All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, “No …no …no …no.” Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks.
He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, “No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look … look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother … for me it is too late.
One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother’s abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply “Hands,” but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love “The Praying Hands.”
More than 450 years have passed. Albrecht Durer’s hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer’s works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/Titus (8:21)
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:1756-59, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wiersbe) Volume II, p. 267-8.
https://www.goodsoil.com/blog/repent-and-or-believe-two-steps-or-two-sides/
https://www.thehistoryofart.org/albrecht-durer/praying-hands/
https://stories4homilies.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/story-behind-the-picture-of-praying-hands/
