12.31.24 – Titus 3

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Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.

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Today we will finish the short book of Titus. We will listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s recording of the 15 verses of the final chapter, chapter 3 of the book of Titus. Titus 3

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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. 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. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way, see that they lack nothing, and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

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My journal in 1995 had a one-line summary of this chapter, Do Good Deeds. Yes, that could be a summary of this chapter, but let’s look at it a little bit more deeply with my other two journals. 2008, after Titus 3, I wrote, Christians are to be subject to rulers and authorities and considerate to all people. God saves us, not on the basis of deeds, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That was quoting verses 5 and 6. Every part of the Trinity is involved in my salvation, I continued to write. Christians are to learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful. In 2013, I kind of wandered through this chapter with various notes, so let me share my journal entry from that year. We are to be submissive to rulers and authorities. In other words, we should not be the ones stirring up trouble. Submissive and obedient, question mark. That is tough on most of us. We should treat all people with dignity, respect, honor. I don’t think very often of what I would be like without being a Christian. Surely it would not be a pretty picture. Then I wrote the gospel as summarized in verses 4 through 7. He saved us. God acts first. Not by works we cannot save ourselves, but according to His own mercy, His motive, His reasons, His way. Justified by His grace. Again, it’s Him, not us. It’s always through Jesus Christ. No other person, no other way. I finished my summary of Titus 3 in that journal by writing, Devoted themselves to good works. That’s what our people need to display. See that they lack nothing. How people sent out by the church should be cared for. Paul finishes his instructions to Titus with a laundry list of how Christians are to live. Let’s look at this checklist and see how we’re doing. In the very first verse of chapter 3, Paul reminds us to be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities. Submissive and obedient. I bet most of us don’t like those two words and don’t do very well with those two words in our Christian character. Submissive and obedience can apply to various things. Yes, most often we probably think of government authorities here. And in more than one place in the scripture, we are reminded to be submissive to government authorities. The reference to rulers and authorities could also apply to our church leadership. It can also apply to our work-a-day world, the bosses that we work with each and every day. And it can apply to our families. For the most part, most of us are under authority for most aspects of our lives. The question is, do we have a submissive and obedient heart to those in authority over us? Well, that one was fun enough. Let’s look at a couple more. Paul goes on to say, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling. Wow, how are we doing with that one? Speak evil of no one and avoid quarreling? Fortunately, he goes on to tell us how we could do that. He says to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. So I suppose if we spent more time being gentle and more time being courteous, we would spend less time speaking evil of others and quarreling with them. Paul goes on to say in verse 8, Those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. So again, as we devote ourselves to good works, we will be gentle and courteous to people, and that will cause us to avoid speaking evil and quarreling with people. And though we are to devote ourselves to good works, verses 4 through 7 put those good works in perspective. 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. There is the good news. There is the gospel in just a couple of verses. We are not saved by our good works, though we are to devote ourselves to do good works. We are not saved because of our works done in righteousness. He saves us. Let’s finish with this. Verse 4 says, In verse 5, the Holy Spirit shows up by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is involved in my salvation by regeneration and His washing and renewal. And in verse 6, Jesus Christ our Savior shows up. Verse 7 even says, So that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So my salvation is dependent on Jesus my Savior and His grace. So I am saved by the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all having a role in my salvation experience. As we finish off the book of Titus, let’s be reminded of some of the things that we’ve learned. We’ve learned that there’s a link between our faith and our practice, our belief and our behavior. We’ve seen a description of the elders and how to properly live this Christian life, the portrait of a healthy church, and how to deflect false teaching by holding firm to the Word of God. Lord, we thank you for the book of Titus. Thank you for the challenge to line up my beliefs with my behavior and to line up what I practice with my faith. Strengthen me, Lord, to be a better witness for you. Holy Spirit, help my walk in this life be more consistent with what I believe. And might my testimony be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. The end of December is a great time to do some planning. For decades I have planned the new year between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Many of us have a few days off that week. It’s a good time to reflect on what happened this year, the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly. It’s a good time to give glory to God for all the good He did for you this year. And it’s a good time to think about the new year ahead. Proverbs 16.9 says, In the busyness of life, most of us don’t plan much anymore. We’re so busy doing activities, we don’t have time to plan. So stop the merry-go-round and think about life. What would you like to accomplish in the new year? What business and personal goals do you have? What spiritual, physical, mental, family, and financial goals would you like to accomplish? I think of them and then I write them down. I actually write them in the front of my personal Bible reading journal for the new year so I can review them throughout the year. I can look back at them and see if I’m creating action steps to actually accomplish my goals. I can see if I can check a few off during the year. Or how can I change my behavior to achieve goal accomplishment? That’s the value of putting them in your personal Bible reading journal. Thinking, then planning, then writing goals, action steps, and deadlines can make your next year far better than your last year. Actually, doing what you want instead of what just comes your way can be very rewarding. So take a few hours between Christmas and New Year’s Day and do some thinking and planning. I know you’re going to enjoy it and want to share it with others.

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