The Single Most Important Lesson In Life Series

What’s the single most important lesson God wants to teach us as Christians? Once you meet Jesus and know Jesus; what’s the first, foremost, and primary lesson He wants us to learn? It’s simple: He wants to teach us to love like Jesus.

The single most important reason God put you on this planet is not to make money, not to have a lot of fun and die, not to simply fill up the day of your life; God put you here for Him to teach you to learn how to love.

Jesus was asked one time, “What’s the greatest commandment? In other words, what’s the most important lesson in life?” Jesus responded in this way, God put you here to learn how to love God and love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.

If we don’t learn how to love, we miss God’s plan for our life

Transitional Sentence: How does Jesus love?

I. He Loves People We May Not Like

vs. 1-2- “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing consideration for all men.”

Explanation:

In Titus 3, we are given some simple principles of how to love the people in our lives that need our love that we might overlook.

Verse 1 begins simply by saying: “Remind them…” The word “remind” is in present tense. This means that Paul is instructing Pastor Titus who is launching churches all up and down the shoreline of Crete to “keep on” reminding the believers there to not forget a vital calling on the lives of Christians. He is to remind them of “how to love.”

He begins by reminding us that God has placed authorities and governments in our world with a God-given assignment; that is to protect and promote peace and provide a better place in our communities for everyone to live together in harmony and love.

Yet often governments to the opposite they become inhabited by self-serving people whose agenda is to promote themselves and opposed to protect and provide for the people they represent.

Already in the Book of Titus we have learned that Cretans we have known for being liars. As a matter of fact, they felt that the greatest badge of honor was the ability to deceive someone and get the upper hand on them.

On the other hand, the Jewish community did not like their neighbors on the Island of Crete and consistently preached and urged separation from the local culture. They huddled together and ignored others around them in fear that they would be spiritually contaminated by them.

Rather than live among the people and demonstrate the love and care for others; they kept to themselves and did nothing at all for others. They did not mix with the locals.

Now, before you throw these people under the bus, understand somethings about Cretan life.

If you traveled back to the island of Crete, you might understand what living in Crete was like. The were under Roman rule and the citizenry there had gained a reputation as being dissatisfied, disgruntled people who were always plotting conflict.

The one thing that connected the secular Cretans and the Jewish Cretans was planning a revolt. To add to this Crete had become a haven of pirates who were known for a self-serving independent lifestyle that answered to no authority.

They hated the Roman government that was self-serving itself. Jesus knew this world all too well. At any time in Jesus’ day in Israel, as well as Titus’ day on the Island of Crete a citizen would feel the flat side of a Roman spear on his shoulder and know right away according to the law they had to carry the Roman soldiers backpack one mile.

In that day they had mile markers like us. Ours look like this; theirs look like that.

A Roman mile was considered a thousand steps and in protest they would often count every step loudly and in boisterous hatred; stomping as they went saying, “ 1, 2, 3, 4, 999, 1000.” Then they would drop their pack on the ground.

Jesus probably carried his fair share of backpacks Himself but in Matthew 5:41 Jesus said: “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.”

Illustration: I’m standing up on the inside

This reminds me of the little girl that was riding in the car one day in her child’s safety seat. She decided to stand up while the car was moving and her mom said, “Honey, sit down.” The little girl refused.

After several requests, followed by commands, she still refused to sit down so her mom reached back and sat her down and said, “Don’t get up again!”