Titus 3

Good evening, everyone. Hope you're doing very well tonight. Welcome to our Wednesday night Bible study series. Welcome to all of you that are watching on the web as well. We're ready to get going here in Cincinnati, so if you'd bow your heads, we'll ask God's blessing on our study tonight. Great, loving, heavenly Father, God Almighty, we are so thankful for your awesome ways and that you have called us and opened our minds to your truth. Father, we just pray for your continued presence now that you'd be with us as we delve into your word as we look into your truth, Father. We just pray that you'd bless the things that are said, bless our hearing God, and help us to further understand your wonderful ways. We are so thankful, God, that you're working with us and that you're helping us and guiding us. We just pray that you'd bless the whole evening tonight and certainly bless the technical side of things. I know many are watching on the web, and we just pray that things would go well for that as well. God, we thank You for this. We praise You. We honor You. We put it all into Your hands, and we thank You for it and ask all of this by our Savior, Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Welcome, everyone, once again. I'm Steve Myers. This is Darris McNeely. If you tuned in, this is not BT Daily. This is BT Nightly, I guess, is what it is instead. Certainly welcome Darris here tonight, our first shot at Bible study. Right. Glad to be here.

Just as a couple of quick reminders, if you have a question, if you're here locally, you can just write it on. We've got some paper that you can write that on and pass a Bible study question forward. Tom Disher has some forms back. If you need that, you can just raise your hand and we can get that to you. Otherwise, if you're watching on the web, you can send your questions right in to ucgbiblestudyatgmail.com. So that's ucgbiblestudyatgmail.com. And then we'll do our best to have a little bit of time at the end of the study to answer those questions. It's always nice if they somehow relate to the things we're talking about, but even if they don't, we'll try to answer the questions anyway. Let's see, are there other things we need to warm up with at the moment? I think that's about it. We'll get these ones a little bit later and hopefully leave a little bit of time for that. Hopefully so. Okay. Great. We were going to try something a little bit different as we started out tonight. We thought that we'd try to zero in a little bit and take a few minutes to talk about some prophetic things. Look at a little bit of world news, some things that are going on in the world today, and just try to look at a little bit of a biblical perspective on a couple of those things as we begin tonight. So we thought since our BT Daily this morning kind of focused on some of the things going on in the Middle East, that it might be good to just take a couple of minutes and talk about a couple of those things.

Yeah, one of the pillars of prophecy that we talk about on a regular basis in the Bible emphasizes and has been a historic part of our prophetic understanding is the Middle East. And of course we have a booklet, The Middle East in Bible Prophecy, and we understand the focus of the Middle East is largely upon Jerusalem. We did a Beyond Today program just recently, Gary Petty did, on Jerusalem Ground Zero. And there has been a great deal of turmoil and upset in the Middle East for the last 12 months or so with the overthrow of the regime in Egypt and in Tunisia and rioting that's resulted in thousands of people in Syria being killed by their own government. The most recent flurry of news in the last few days has been the fear of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. And that has been certainly known for a number of years that they have been pursuing that effort. But it was ratcheted up again the last few days because of comments by the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, the Israeli officials, their equivalent of their Secretary of Defense, plus comments that have been made by the leading, the leader of Iran, the Ayatollah.

The wrote in comments that their goal with a nuclear weapon to dominate, they mean basically bomb it into extinction. And they're very open about that. And of course Israel has speculated as to whether Israel will launch a preemptive attack to try to destroy their nuclear capabilities. They supposedly burrowed underground with their bunkers and all of their research.

But there is the technology to actually bomb those and disable that. But the rhetoric is coming back to will Israel do it? Will America support Israel if they do it? Because should Israel send their fighter bombers into Iran to take out these nuclear facilities, immediately there's going to be upwards of 200,000 rockets by one account, unleashed upon Israel. And cities like Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv will come under attack. And will America then come to the rescue of Israel? Because we have been their defender and the other Arab nations, how will they react?

So there's just been a great deal of comment about that. There was an article this morning on one of the Internet sites that talked about what has been going on over there and really the vacuum that has been created because of an inability by the United States to bring up a very clear policy regarding all of the overthrows of Egypt and what's taking place in Syria and the threat to Israel and the problems in Iran. And the approach that has been taken by the Obama administration has been receiving a great deal of criticism.

And as this one article puts it, the Middle East is crumbling and the problems are ongoing there and they're not being met in a logical, effective way. America has not done anything to stop Syria from killing thousands of its own citizens in recent days and weeks. And… Very interesting. With the UN, they were trying to have a resolution regarding that and China and Russia stepped in and vetoed it. They vetoed that, yeah. And that's been kind of a really catch point for the president and for the Secretary of State as well. And so I guess they're up in arms about the whole thing and not pleased at all with the direction of the Security Council of the UN.

Yeah, as this one article brings out, that shouldn't be a surprise to anybody because nations typically act in their own interest and it is in Russia and China's interest for all this upset in Syria to continue on. And they're not going to allow any type of a UN sanction or American intervention to try to upset what's taking place because Bashir Assad, the Syrian president, is their ally. It seemed a little unusual. I was reading an article that was talking about some of the president's… at least new philosophy on things a little bit. He talked about the fact that the United States and Israel's policy, and I think an exact quote from the president, were lockstep.

And in the past, it hasn't seemed that the president has necessarily been that way, but it seems that that seems to be the direction that things are going now with American policy. So it would be interesting to see what form that takes when it comes to doing something about nuclear weapons or the possible nuclear weapons in Iran.

This one article that was written today by Caroline Glick, who is an Israeli reporter and observer on the scene there. Whether or not she's speaking for all of the Israeli government or just a particular faction, but they certainly are not optimistic about the American reaction and commitment to defend Israel should they take any preemptive action against Iran. In fact, this article brings out that they have not even really… the American deployment in the Persian Gulf of ships and armaments is nowhere near the force that it would be needed to really effectively attack Iran and do anything to stop what they are doing over there.

We were talking a little bit about it this morning. Before the daily, I guess it was about some of the American reaction to these things at the moment. And the biggest thing seems to be people's concern about gas prices. And I had to almost chuckle to myself thinking, we're worried about gas when you've got this huge picture of prophecy out here where you have the… the target is Jerusalem. And it is at the center of biblical prophecy and how Israel is just surrounded by Arab states. And we're concerned about gas when there's this monstrous problem out there that Israel is facing.

And it's going to include the United States as well because we can't seem to stay out of that sort of thing. Yeah, your comment this morning reminded me of an article that I had come across a few months ago and it saved. It talks about Israel's peculiar position. And it was really an article that goes back to 1968, shortly after the Six-Day War, which expanded Israel's borders at that time.

And of course, the current Palestinian issues are wanting to turn back the clock and remove Israel from those conquered lands that they took in 1967 and essentially put a… you know, reset it back to that period of time. But this was… in 1968, a man named Eric Hofer, who was a pretty astute observer of the International Affairs, made a comment about Israel's peculiar position and how the unique position it was in as a state coming off of World War II and the Holocaust and the unique position that Israel is or has within the world.

And I think what he said here at the end of his article is still very much effective. He says, I have a premonition that will not leave me. As it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us. And I think that, you know, when you tie in the elements of Bible prophecy that we understand from Daniel and other prophecies about the armies that will gather against Jerusalem and ultimately come there, this idea here that should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us speaks more than what he probably realizes.

But Israel is still there all these years later, and it is still under attack. And its enemies do not want it to continue. And should Israel ever be annihilated, that would have, I think, disastrous consequences. And we know the pressure is going to keep coming. It's going to keep building. And we know what some of the prophecies say about these things as armies will gather around Jerusalem and these things will come. And the fact that we've got to be watching, not just watching news events and that sort of thing. Yes, we should be aware of what's going on in the world, but more importantly, we've got to be watching what kind of people we are.

What is our relationship with God? That's really what it comes down to. Most importantly is that we've got to be right with God. We've got to have our spiritual house in order as we see these events unfold around us. And the point is that these events that we've understood in the church for a number of years continue to roll inexorably forward to an ever increasing tension toward the fulfillment of these prophecies that we see.

And we're closer today than we were back even in 1968. And we thought we were pretty close at that time. But with what has developed since that period of time, the dangers are even greater. That's all I've got to say about that subject. Alright, great. Well, maybe we'll take a few minutes before our Bible studies and just talk about some of the things in the news from here on out for a little bit. Alright, well, we will jump back to the book of Titus. We're going to try to finish the letter that Paul wrote to Titus tonight. We're in the last chapter.

The fellas finished chapter 2 last time out. And so we'll pick it up at the beginning of chapter 3. And as a little bit of backdrop, you remember that this letter was written to Titus by the Apostle Paul. And a lot of what the intent was behind the letter was to give this young minister instruction on the business of the church, how the church should operate, how to be a better minister. He talks about those kinds of things. He talks about what it means to be an elder and goes through some of these important things that not only elders should know, but all of us as God's people should be striving to measure up to the standard of Jesus Christ.

And so he continues that as he gets into chapter 3, where he begins to give Titus some instructions for all of us as God's people, as church members. What is our Christian duty? What is our duty to each other? What is our Christian duty to those around us, those in our community, and those in the government as well? And so that's where he starts with chapter 3, where he says, Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities.

So as a little indication here, he's saying this isn't any new things. This is just a reminder. This is some practical information on how to live. How do you take God's teachings, His instructions, and actually apply them to your life? So he says, Remind them about these things. Them, of course, is us, the church members. Church members, remind the church members that they're supposed to be subject to rulers and authorities.

Voluntarily, that is. Not that we're forced to do this, but he's saying to be subject. Voluntarily, we come under the government. Now, this phrase for government and authorities is not specific to a ruler or an authority, but it's talking about government in general, whatever form that may take.

And so not necessarily an individual ruler, but various forms of government. And of course, thinking about who he's writing to, Titus, and where he is on the island of Crete, he's saying, You know those Cretans, they're rebellious kind of people. You remember some of the descriptions of them earlier about him all being liars and things like that, quoting their own poets and things like that.

He's reminding them that must have been kind of their tendency not to come under the authority of the government. And so he's reminding them that as a Christian, that we have a responsibility. And of course, we know that's part of Christ's teachings as well, where he said, Render under Caesar, what is Caesar's?

And so Christ said that that was our Christian responsibility. If it's within God's law, then we need to be subject to that. We must follow human authority if it's within the law of God. And so we have to be good citizens. So we have to stop at the stoplights and obey the rules, you know, if that's not against the law of God.

And so then we must obey. And that shows our light shining then. That shows the way of God is a productive way of life. Now, in some of the translations, I think it's the King James that talks about magistrates.

It says, Subject to rulers, authorities, magistrates in the King James, I think, and to be ready for every good work. It really means to obey. The word magistrates, so in the New King James, it gets a little bit better translation there, that we're to obey the government when it is within the law of God. And so that sets a good example. And it's interesting, when we do these things, there is a practical result that comes from that. What is the result? That we're ready for every good work. So we're prepared, we're willing, we're participating in life that is around us, which means we're setting a good example in the community.

And in a sense, Paul's telling Titus that this is evidence that Christianity is a good force, a force for good in society. It's a force for good within the community, that we can set a proper example. And who knows what God will do with that example? As we set a good example to those around us in the community, that God may call some of them. And hopefully that's preparing us for good works. Of course, tied to that then in verse 2, he says, we're not to speak evil of anyone, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

And that is a challenge, isn't it? Doesn't give you too many exceptions here, does it? When it says, to speak evil of no one. That's tough! That's something I don't think we're very good at. I think it's easy to be critical of people. It's easy to speak evil of people. But that's not the example that Christ set, is it? If you look at 1 Peter 2.20, through that whole section of Scripture, well, maybe we should turn over.

You ought to hold your place here. Maybe we should turn over to Peter. I guess of late this has been a favorite section of Scripture of mine. But in 1 Peter, this is that section of Scripture that talks about when you're beaten for your faults, when you deserve it. You should take it patiently, but what if you're beaten when you do good? And if you take it patiently, it's commendable before God. You're exhibiting your love before God. And why is that?

He says in verse 21 in 2 Peter 2, to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example. And that's the key. If Paul tells Titus, speak evil of no one. Here we've got this example of Christ. Notice the example. In verse 23 it says, Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he didn't threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Now if anyone had a right to call out anybody, if anyone had a right to say, this person is wrong and they are evil and they are acting foolishly, it was Christ. And yet here we see, just before the crucifixion, Christ even then didn't speak evil of others. So what a powerful example for us, that even if people are hostile against us, does that give us a right to speak evil of them?

Paul says, no, we don't have that right. We have an obligation to do what's right, to pray for those that persecute us. That's the instruction that we're given, that we're told that we should love our enemies. So to speak evil of them puts us in the wrong frame of mind, because that's just the opposite then if you want to flip back to Titus. The opposite of speaking evil then is to be peaceable, to be gentle, to show all humility to all men.

So once again we have that all inclusive category that we're to be considerate, we're to be patient, we're not to be an agitator. That's the opposite of peaceable, being an agitator. We're not supposed to participate in quarrels, conflicts. And that is a challenging situation, because it's easy to talk down other people. It's easy to put others down, especially when they're not there. It's easy to do that. It's easy to participate in conversations like that.

But we've got to say, no, I can't do that. I can't talk that way. I'm not supposed to think that way, let alone talk that way. And so if we're continuing to show humility, in a sense what Paul is saying here is that's proving who our God is. It's proving who our Savior is. It's proving that we're faithful members, we're faithful participants in the body of Christ, and we're representatives of Him. And so he's saying this has to be our behavior then. Otherwise, notice verse 3 then, he says, for we ourselves were also once foolish. Well, how long ago once were we foolish? It was just an hour ago that I was being foolish, right?

Or I was saying things I shouldn't have been saying, or speaking evil. No, he says, okay, before our conversion I was foolish, disobedient, deceived. Look at this list. Serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. You see, he's pointing out the fact of how we need to be acting. Why should we be considered? Why should we be gentle? Why should we act in this godly way? And part of the motivation I think here, he's pointing to the past. We used to be like that. That used to be our frame of mind. We didn't know any better.

And now that we know the difference, he's saying, you know, you were foolish before. You didn't understand. You didn't understand. You just didn't have the spiritual perception to really get it. You know, and part of what ties in here is this idea of disregard for authority. And he says, that's the way we used to be, but we can't stay in that frame of mind. We can't be in that frame of mind. Because then in verse 4, he reminds us here, when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

Here's the contrast. We used to be this, but now God has called us. He's extended grace and love and kindness to us. He's kind to everyone, in fact. And so here he says that God is our Savior. Literally talking about our Father. God our Savior through Christ. God doesn't love just me. God doesn't just love the church. God loves the world, doesn't He?

John 3.16 reminds us of that. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So we have to be careful then to remember that all people are God's people. Everyone's going to have an opportunity to come to the truth. That's the awesome plan of God. That He's opened our minds to understand. And so we once used to be a part of that. And now because God has been kind, because He's given us a Savior, that should cause us to act differently.

That should cause us to have a whole different frame of mind. Because what did we do to deserve it? We didn't do anything, did we? We didn't do anything. Verse 5 tells us that, not by works of righteousness, by which we've done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. So, yes, we need to do good works, but does that have the power to save us? He says, no, that's not by our righteousness.

We know our righteousness is as filthy rags. And we know the wages that we've earned. What are the wages of sin? We earn death, but we have a Savior. And so He saved us from our sins. When we're repentant, when we go into the water of baptism, sin is washed away.

And when we repent daily, our sin is removed from us. And so we can be washed clean. And so this isn't talking about some ceremonial washing here, when it says the washing of regeneration. In a sense, it's symbolic of baptism, isn't it? That word also can be used to bathe. We take quite a bath at baptism, don't we? All the sins are washed away. They're removed. God takes them as far as the east is from west. And we're regenerated. The washing of regeneration, that we're given a new life.

Romans 6 talks about that new life that we're given. When we stand up out of the water and we receive God's Holy Spirit, it's like resurrection. It's like we have a new life in Christ. And so the old life is done away and we're regenerated. The word can mean to become again, that we have a new life altogether. And so even though this phrase isn't used very often, it is used in Matthew 19.28, is where it also shows up.

And that's what it's talking about here, that we have a new life in Christ. And so we have to have a different perspective and we have to be washed clean through baptism and then that daily repentance that we can come to before God. So some important aspects of what Paul is teaching Titus and teaching all of us as God's people that we have to have as a framework, that that has to be our focus. That yes, we were in that same category.

So there's no reason for us to look down on people that are out there in the world because God's going to work with them at some time. At some point He's going to call them and open their minds to His truth. And so we were once in that situation. So now we better take advantage of this great calling that we have. We know we have that opportunity now. And so when we look back at verse 7, then he says we've been justified by His grace, by His love, not by anything that we've done, but we're justified. So what does justified mean?

If we're justified by grace, what does that mean for us? Well, it means our sin is forgiven. We're justified. We're lined up with Jesus Christ and God the Father. We're declared righteous. Just recently in ABC we finished going through the book of Galatians. And just about the whole book is about justification. And it sounds like a very religious, highfalutin' kind of word.

But really it just means being made right. Being made right with God. Declared righteous. And you know that can only come through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only way, through His sacrifice. And so we're justified because of His grace. He gave His life for us. And of course we get a little glimpse into the purpose then behind that. Our awesome future down there in verse 7, that we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So we know Jesus Christ is our elder brother. God is our Father. We are heirs to the Kingdom. We are children of God. And so we can become a part of the awesome plan that He has in mind for us. And so He even sees here that it's something that we have that is according to the hope of eternal life. And so it's interesting. What's the plan all about? Family. It's all about being a part of God's family.

And so we're now heirs awaiting the time that we can be inheritors. So it's like the will is already made out and our name's on it. And we're just waiting for the return of Christ for when we can actually inherit the Kingdom, which will be an awesome blessing. Now going on with verse 8.

He says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly. Now part of that seems to be pointing back to what he just got done saying about this wonderful opportunity that we have to be right with God, that He can forgive our sins through the death of His Son, His blood. And so that seems to be what He's pointing back to when He says, this is a faithful saying. He says, I want you to affirm this constantly. So this is something that as God's people should affect how we act, how we behave, how we talk, what's important to us in our lives.

And so He points to that all of this should have a tremendous impact on the kind of people that we are. So He goes on then in verse 8, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. And so He's in a sense insisting on this. You know, if we're godly people, that means it has to affect what we do, it has to affect the kind of people that we are.

Ephesians 2.8 talks about that we're saved by grace through faith. And of course most religions want to stop right there and they don't want to go any further with that. But when you read a little bit farther in Ephesians 2, what does it say? That we're set apart for good works. So that we have to be doing good works. So part of the good works would be keeping God's holy days, keeping the Sabbath, obeying the commandments.

All of those are good works. Now we know those things don't save us, but we're set apart for those things. We need to be careful to maintain those kinds of good works because those are requirements for God's people. We know it doesn't save us, but we need to be ready and willing to do those things.

And He says these things are good and they're profitable. So that's part of those good works as well. Now that doesn't discount the other good works that are out there as well when we're treating each other. How do we treat each other? How do we serve each other? Are we coming to each other's assistance and aid when we have those opportunities? And in a sense He's incorporating that as well, that when those opportunities arise, we better step up and take advantage of the opportunity to give and to serve.

I think it says a lot about who we are. Who are we? It's not just that we're servants or that we serve, but that we are servants. That's who we are. It's not just what we do. It's who we are. And I think there's quite a difference between those things. Yes, we serve, but we are servants. And so that's why we do what we do. We're following and emulating the example of Jesus Christ who gave up everything and became a bond slave, is what we find in Philippians 2.

And so we're supposed to follow that example. And so as we're putting those things in the practice, we're careful to maintain good works, because that is part of the fruit that we show that we are God's people. And then he challenges us once again as he gets to verse nine. He says, avoid foolish disputes. That can be a challenge. It's easy to get into arguments about things if we're not careful. Don't get into those kinds of things. And he gives a whole example, genealogies. That was part of the problem with some of the Gnostic way of thinking.

They would get into who's related to who, and that became very important in their worship and all of those kinds of things. He's saying, that's foolish. Contentions are foolish. He also talks about strivings about the law. It seems to be not so much God's law here, but just getting into legal disagreements. It says they're unprofitable and useless. A lot of that kind of thing just doesn't get anywhere.

It doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't lead to anything. It doesn't improve things. And so he's saying, just avoid those things. Just try to root that out of your way of thinking and out of your life. It's better just to avoid it all. And so he goes on.

Is that something about what we're talking about? No. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Oh, okay. All right. So I'll finish this and then do that. You want to finish the rest of the chapter? No. No, I was going to turn it over to you here. This question is regarding verse 5, what you already covered regarding the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Oh, okay. Well, why don't we talk about that and then I'll just turn it over to you.

How's that? That's a good idea. Okay. Let's do that. All right. It says, What is the meaning of the renewing of the Holy Spirit? Before we recall, we didn't have the Holy Spirit, so how could it be renewed? All right. So looking at this is back there in verse 5 is what the question is referring to. Maybe we answered it a little bit as we went along, so I'm not sure when the question exactly came in. But when he talks about the regeneration and renewing of the Spirit, we see that that's part of what's going on because it's a continual process, right?

It's a process. Conversion. If we wanted to say when you were converted, we'd point to when we were baptized, probably. But we know that conversion isn't a one-time thing. We know that it's a whole process, and that process really begins as God starts to call us. We can point to baptism as we receive God's Spirit, and then we continue to grow in grace and knowledge. And so as we're growing, we're constantly renewing that Spirit. We're coming before God, we're having our sins forgiven, we repent, and we renew that Spirit daily, right? We renew our minds daily.

And so it's really pointing to the fact of how our Christian life continues on, how we grow, and how that fact has to be there. We're regenerated. Yes, we're regenerated at baptism, but daily as we go before God, it kind of is a reset for us. And so here, I think we see that happening here as we look at this particular passage that yes, it's all of these things. He saves us through that, saves us from our sin when we repent, the penalty of sin when we repent.

And we ultimately look forward to the saving in the Kingdom when we are Spirit. And in that meantime, this regeneration has to continue to take place, this continual renewal that we're putting on Jesus Christ more and more. If you wanted to read through Romans 6 or Romans 8, it talks quite a bit about that as well. Other things you might want to add to that? No, I think I covered it pretty well. Okay. All right. So I'll turn it over to you then so I don't just keep rattling on that. Okay. All right. Let me just make a couple of comments here before I finish up chapter 3 here.

I was struck by the reference back in verse 7, being justified by His grace. And that just reminded me how many times in the book of Titus, Paul does use this concept of grace in ways to certainly in this case were justified by God's grace, by His free unmerited pardon, provides for our justification to become hopeful heirs of eternal life. Back in verse 11 of chapter 2 here in Titus, he mentioned, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, and teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

So again, another reference here. And of course, he opened the entire letter back in chapter 1 and verse 4 by saying to Titus, grace, mercy, and peace, which was a common opening greeting that Paul uses many times in his letters to invoke the grace of God. And you see it used here in multiple ways, certainly referring to God's forgiveness and pardon, but also using it in such a way that grace being God's favor, mercy, and grace providing for mercy and peace, when we live a life, if we could call it a lifestyle that is gracious, grace-filled, we're going to engender mercy. We're going to be merciful individuals.

We're going to be peaceable individuals. And Paul tends to emphasize that here in this particular letter, and it fits because, remember, he is writing this to Titus, who has an opportunity as a young minister to work with a congregation of people who are presenting a number of challenges to him. And this is what the people here in Crete were doing.

There's nothing like the statement Paul makes in verse 12 of chapter 1, where he quotes one of their own that says, Crettons are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. That's not a complimentary statement for one of their native sons to make about this whole group of people, not just the church, but Cretans, those on the island of Crete. And this is where the church was, which was reflecting society. So Paul is telling Titus, look, emphasize these qualities of grace that he goes on to define through here in order to stabilize the congregation and to provide the means and the environment for growth and spiritual development, which is what he is wanting to do with these pastoral epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and also for Titus as well.

Verse 8, he mentions good works, and that reminded me of the…he just encourages the people to be about doing good things, whatever those good works might be. Find those opportunities, do them. They engender goodwill among members of the congregation and just even in society as a whole. But for us as Christians to find a place where we can serve, a means by which we can serve not only our own people, but our neighbors, friends, family, others that we may come in contact with in whatever way to just do good things. It reminded me of the ending that Garrison Keeler uses on his Prairie Home Companion.

It's been a while since I've listened to some of his radio programs, but I used to download those podcasts and listen to them a lot in the car while driving. But he would always end. He had this little folks he's saying, he said, Be well and do good things. Be well and do good things. And that's not bad advice for any of us to live by. And that's what Paul is saying here.

Be careful to maintain good works. Do good things. And that this will be profitable to all men. And then, of course, he gets into this admonition to avoid foolish disputes and contentions and genealogies and strivings about the law. I would say that as he is addressing church matters and a minister in dealing with the church, there is, I think, an application here that we all should understand that at times we do, even among ourselves, we will strive about aspects of God's way of life and about what God tells us to do.

And those things are a part of what happens within the church from time to time because we are a law-abiding church. We obey God's law. We love God's law. We sing the song, Oh, How Love I Thy Law. It is ever with me, quoting from the Psalms. We keep God's law. We worship God through that way of life. And in doing so at times in our zeal, we will sometimes have there will be certain strivings that will come up among God's people that the church will have to rule on or settle or intervene in in terms of laying out what does the Bible say, how should we apply this in our walk, today, as Christians, various aspects of keeping the Sabbath and making sure that we don't get too legalistic about that.

The church had to make a, the council had to make a decision on that within the last couple of years, just on the matter of the Sabbath, where there was a question about that. And other issues will come up about various aspects of God's way of life and the law and what God says to do regarding various matters, that we will sometimes, individuals, will get very, very strict with themselves, and sometimes that will create a certain following.

And if we're not careful, it can lead to division because as some others may, in their Christian liberty, interpret it otherwise, they may not be quite as strict on themselves as someone else might be in their particular walk, yet they're still keeping God's law. And it does create certain strivings that we have to make sure that we don't let them get out of hand.

We've issued certain position papers, doctrinal statements, study papers in the United Church of God over our 16-year history on various subjects like eating out on the Sabbath, for one, or eating unleavened bread during the days of Unleavened Bread. We have papers on our website about that, and we've covered the calendar issue, which is a perennial issue within the Church of God, goes back decades in terms of the issues that it has created among people who are of good faith, but at sometimes making certain issues over various things that can lead to division.

So you can look at our website on those study papers that we have done over the years, and you will see where we have made certain studies and statements to help people clarify these issues so that there is not division, that we may speak the same thing and have peace within the Church. Paul goes on to show Titus here that when these things get out of hand, whatever it might be, just foolish disputes even.

Look, any time you've got more than two or three people together, you're going to get into a certain disputing about whatever it might be. It can be an understanding of Scripture, perhaps, or it can be just the way things are done within a local congregation. Mr. Myers and I have been pastors for years, and we've worked in a number of congregations and among God's people, and we know how well-meaning people at times can have disputes among themselves. You have to settle parties down at times and act as an arbitrator between individuals.

It may be over potlucks. It might be over the hall set up. It might be over, of all things, sports. No, no disputes about sports. Hot topics like that. But those things come up. I've dealt with a number of them over the years, and sometimes in my early years as a minister, I've also probably been the originator of certain disputes in my efforts to learn how to pastor a church. So it works both ways. Paul is warning Titus that they're all unprofitable and useless. Don't let them get out of hand. Yeah, we had a question come in that's kind of related to this.

It's hearkening back to verse 2, and that phrase where Paul says to Titus to speak evil of no one. And the question came in, Christ didn't always say nice things about people. So maybe there's another aspect of the translation to this phrase to consider.

For instance, Matthew 23, Christ is very critical. It describes Pharisees, their actions, calling them hypocrites, fools, blind, serpents, vipers, not so nice. So it says, could you clarify? And then it goes on with a couple of other quotations from Matthew 23, 27, and 33. I think the difference, when you look at Jesus Christ, what was His motivation? He was the Word. He is God in the flesh. Can He identify people's motivation? Absolutely.

He knew why people did what they did. What about us? Do we know why people do what they do? Oh, we may think we know what they're motivated with. Well, they did that because… And then we label them, and we speak evil of them. When we have no clue, most oftentimes it seems, why people do what they do. And I think here we see Jesus Christ, who is the one who will judge.

He labels those things for what they were. So they were hypocrites. They were fools. They were blind. Now let me ask you, have you ever called someone a name like that or thought of someone in those terms, and you were wrong? Probably. Probably. Or has anyone ever done that to you? Question your motivation. Question your character. And they weren't right. And so I think you've got to get back to who we're talking about here. Christ could identify those things very plainly in people. And of course, as the one who ultimately people will stand before, they're going to have the opportunity to repent.

Those vipers and those hypocrites who didn't know the truth, who didn't understand God's way, are going to have that opportunity to come to repentance right before the one who labeled it as it really was. And so I think that's where we have to be careful. And I think that's what Paul is getting at when he talks about our motivation in calling someone evil and speaking wrongly of them. Most oftentimes, our reason for doing that is not Christ-like. That is not the mind of Christ. And I think that's the challenge.

Yeah, I think there's also another thing to consider here. There in Matthew 23, Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees, who sat in a teaching role, in a judgmental role within the nation of Judah and over all the people at that time. And of course, in a number of situations, they came to Christ trying to trip him up, trying to discredit his role. And as Steve mentioned, he could discern their heart and spirit far better than any of us can when it came to anyone else.

But these were also religious leaders, and they were held to a higher standard, and Jesus really cut to the chase in his description of them. Of course, Matthew 23 is a scathing rebuke of them. Yeah, and in a sense, he's not speaking evil of them. He's just telling the truth. Yes. This is who they were. This is who they were, and he could identify that. Well, we can't say that.

You know, with our perception, we don't have that kind of insight. And of course, here in Titus, again, it's in the context of a pastoral epistle. This is advice from Paul, who is, let's say, a supervising apostle to Titus, a young man who is working with his congregation. And Paul is really giving him some practical, on-the-ground advice to be applied within the membership. Yeah, with that in mind, it just reminded me of 1 Peter 2.1.

It kind of ties in this evil speaking again. Therefore, lay aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. Because I think that nails down where we're usually at. We're usually hypocritical ourselves. We're usually envious. If we're going to talk bad about somebody else, that may be our frame of mind. And so those things seem to have a tie-in with that speaking evil of others.

So we have to be careful of what our motivation is, then. Now if we go on here in chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, really speak to this again. Because here Paul does give Titus some very clear direction about dealing with people who are divisive. It says, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. Now that's some pretty strong advice that he's laying down to Titus as to how to, again, work with the congregation, protect the congregation, and yet deal at times.

There are times when a minister will have to deal with division. People who's teaching, people whose attitudes, motives are causing and leading to division. And he says, work with them, go to them first at a time and even a second time. And one could assume from other statements that Jesus made, perhaps a third or fourth time, perhaps. But I don't want to add to the Scripture necessarily.

You want to make sure you leave yourself opportunity for not only discovery, but also room for a person to repent. But if a person is to the point where they are causing division, a couple of admonitions is sufficient here. And he says, deal with it, because they are warped and they are sinning. So we're dealing with unrighteousness here. And they're self-condemned. Their actions and the effect of their actions among the people in the congregation or the church speak for themselves and speak a judgment that cannot be ignored.

And this is a tough situation for a pastor or a church administrator to be in when dealing with the church of God. This is where you earn your salary, I guess. You earn your stripes. You have to learn to accept the responsibility. The minister has to accept the responsibility that is upon him to shepherd the people of God and to care for the people of God and make those decisions. And you want to make sure you've got all the facts. That's why he says after a first and second admonition in terms of a process of discovery and a process, one of the things we've been very, very careful to do within the United Church of God is to...

We've erected some processes for appeal, for discovery of dealing with members and the ministry and protecting individuals as well as protecting the organization, protecting our doctrine, protecting our policies and all. And exercising those at the appropriate time is a responsibility of those that are given, whether it's the pastor, the president of the church, or the governing board, in our case, a council of elders.

There have come times over the years where those things have to be done. And they're not easy. They're not pleasant. But you have to make a decision based on the facts that are before you for the sake of the church. And this is what Paul is telling Titus, because otherwise you will have anarchy. You will have sin that is creeping in and creating problems that will divide and essentially destroy an organization, destroy a body of people.

And he says this just cannot be done. There was…Barkley's commentary on Titus has a paragraph on this that really does bring it out. I wanted to read it to you. I had given a Bible study on Titus just before last year, during the summer months, in one of the in-home Bible studies over in Indianapolis.

And I ran across this at the time and brought it out. It really struck home. And it's Barkley's commentary here on Titus, verses 10 and 11. And let me just read it very carefully and listen very carefully as to how William Barkley brings it out.

I think it is exquisite. He says that, It is Paul's advice that the contentious and opinionated man should be avoided. The authorized version calls him the heretic. The Greek word is hereticos, from which we get the word heretic, a divisive ban here as it is translated in the New King James. The Greek verb herain, means to choose. And the Greek word heresis means a party or a school or a sect. And originally this word did not have a bad meaning.

It means to choose a school, a school of thought, a school of opinion, a philosophical school, or a party, a liberal, conservative, democratic, republican, progressive, libertarian, a party of belief, a party of philosophical, political, or religious persuasion. In the original Greek, this is what it meant. Originally the word had no bad meaning at all. A heresis was not a heresy. That is, a school of thought or an opinion was not necessarily a heresy. It was simply the party to which a man chose to belong. Again, because they felt that way within the scheme of the public, the grouping, and it was not a heresy, but it was simply the party to which a man chose to belong.

The bad meaning creeps in when a man erects his private opinion against all the teaching, the agreement, and the tradition of the church. This is how it is used here in Titus with instruction to Titus to deal with it when it reaches a point where a person holds a particular personal opinion of application, perhaps, when it may come to doctrine, when it may come to teaching, or even a tradition within the church. We're not talking about the basic law of God so much as how a person erects his personal opinion about his idea against all the teaching, and that could be the doctrinal teaching, and the agreement, and the tradition of the church.

A heretic, going on with Barkley, is simply a man who has decided he is right and everybody else is wrong. Let me read that again. A heretic is simply a man who has decided that he is right and everybody else is wrong.

That can be on any pet doctrines. I mentioned some of the ones that sometimes people will focus on in their zeal to obey God. It can be the name of God. It can be a calendar issue. It can be something about new moons, perhaps, and other issues. And it becomes so ingrained that their opinion then goes against the teaching, the doctrine, and the tradition of the church, and they push it to the point where there is division. There's contention. There's strivings. There are problems. And he says, a heretic is simply a man who has decided he is right and everybody else is wrong.

Paul's warning is a warning against the man who has made his own ideas the test and standard of all truth. A man should always be very careful of any opinion which separates him from the fellowship of his fellow believers. We have fundamentals of belief within the church. We have the Bible that is our standard. We have God's law. We have doctrine. We have certain traditions as well as to how the church is conducted and how applications are made along the way. We have traditions about how we organize a Sabbath service and keep a service on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a doctrine. It's a law of God.

We have traditions as to how our service will be within the church. We have certain traditions about the Feast of Tabernacles. I just use those as examples. But when someone wants to take their particular opinion about some of these things and push it or even their own opinion of themselves and their view of any other issue in the church to the point where it becomes division that separates them from the fellowship of his fellow believers, then you have a problem.

This is what Paul is addressing here where people will do that and they become divisive, heretical in their teaching approach and application.

Barkley ends this here by saying, True faith does not divide men, it unites them. True faith does not divide men, it unites them. I think those are some words of wisdom with the man's understanding of the Greek and how the words developed. Certainly, as we look at what God inspired Paul to write here, understanding that there are situations that will arise, it's important to understand how they arise and what to do with them. There is a proper authority within the church, duly delegated, constituted to deal with those divisions at times that will arise as unfortunate and as painful as they may be. True faith will not divide people, true faith will unite people. And that's something for us all to consider and take to God for understanding and application within the church. So, going on in verse 12, then, Paul wraps up his letter. He says, I will send Artemis to you, or Tychicus, and be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. So, he sends on some messages here. He asks Titus, he says, send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste. And this Apollos seems to be the Apollos that is mentioned in Corinthians and also the book of Acts that was a great speaker and one who had been taught by some of the other disciples, sent him to him on their journey with haste that they may lack nothing. And then he says, and let your people also learn to maintain good works. Again, just a practical admonition to teach people to do good things, maintain good works, to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.

And then he closes off again. He says, all who are with me, greet you and greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

And so he ends again on a note of grace, just as he had begun the letter praying grace, mercy, and peace. He says, grace be with you all. And he focuses on the action. So, it's a very practical letter that we gain a great deal of instruction from as to how to work with people in the congregations, how to organize the congregation, and the elements of how to teach people to be and do, and how to manage the congregation. So, this is a very practical letter that is very short, but there's a great deal of information there, so much that it took us three Bible studies to get through it here. So... That's right, it did, isn't it? All right. I don't see any other questions coming at the moment on the book of Titus. So, I might just remind you, a question came in. They were wondering if there's an archive where they can watch Bible studies that they have missed. And the answer is yes, there certainly is. From what I understand, it's right on the page. If you're on the web right now watching the Bible study, it's right on that very page where you can look back at other Bible studies, not only about Titus, but Timothy beforehand as well. You can check out those archives. Otherwise, you can go to our homepage, ucg.org, and go to the Media tab. Is it on the menu? Is that right? The Media menu. And then there is a little notation there for Live and Archived Wednesday Night Bible Studies. And so, you should be able to find those there. If you have any problems, email us and we'll direct you exactly if you're having problems. But ucg.org, Media, and then Live and Archived Wednesday Night Bible Studies. So, you can check out any of the ones that you might have missed along the way. What are some of the other topics that have been covered?

First and second, Timothy were most recent before that book of Acts. So, most of those should be right there on the page. So, you'll be able to find those and check back for any ones you might have missed. All right. Well, with that, we conclude the book of Titus.