[Read Titus 2:15-3:7]
I spend a lot of time thinking about the church—about Christians and ministry, about mission and reaching the lost, about the most effective way to reach the world with the Gospel. In reality, every waking moment of my life, this is on my mind. Seriously. Even on my “days off” or when I’m on “vacation,” I’m noticing the way people interact with one another, the deep-down-desires expressed in facial expressions, the way the world works.
As I have been thinking about this over the past thirteen years, I have come to a settled conclusion that if we are going to reach the lost for Jesus Christ, they are not going to come to the church. We need to go to them. Twenty or thirty years ago, our country had a stronger influence of cultural Christianity, that pulled people toward the church. Churches could hold events and people would come because there was still a cultural pull of Christianity. That’s fading fast. The cultural pull toward the church is very weak, if not non-existent. We could hold a huge event, trying to attract non-believers to our church, but barely any would actually show up. We could spend hours and hours and hours and thousands of dollars to plan a massive event to attract non-believers and the majority of the people who would show up were Christians. The cultural pull toward the church is gone.
This is why we need to go to them. This is my dream for the church in today’s culture. That Christians would learn to worship God in every aspect of their lives and that worship would overflow into everything they do and say. That we would begin to reach the community around us by being in the community—as we go to work, as we buy our groceries, as we recreate. That we would regularly find ourselves as solid Christians, living out their solid faith, in the midst of the world. Then, as we meet people, get to know them, share our life and faith with them, and they believe in Jesus, then they are pulled into the church to be equipped to be sent back out into the world. I dream that this church would be a training facility—training disciples to go into the world to make disciples—not a place where we hide from the world and try to get the world to come to us, but that we would go out into the streets and meet people and share the gospel and point them to Jesus. I dream that we would be a congregation that is bringing the gospel into every workplace, every grocery story, and every relationship in our lives.
Yet, when we begin to do this, we recognize the difficulty of being in the world. The world is filled with people who do not stand for or believe the things we believe. The world is filled with people who have no shame in slandering, sleeping around, stealing, lying, you name it. The world is full of unrighteousness and it can be difficult for us to be a witness in that situation. On the one hand, it can be difficult for us to “put up” with all that unrighteousness. On the other hand, it can be difficult to speak into that unrighteousness.
It’s one of the reasons why I hide the fact that I’m a pastor at times. Not because I’m ashamed of my faith or my calling, but because people act weird around pastors. The other day I was at a hockey game and one of the nearby parents was going to town on the refs and players—screaming and yelling profanity and calling people names. In between periods we began to talk and had a good conversation about her life and some of the struggles she is going through. It was a really good, normal conversation. Yet, at some point in the conversation, she found out I was a pastor. She immediately got quiet and awkward—apologizing for her language, etc. I kinda laughed because it was like she thought I had never heard that kind of language before, like she was defiling me by being in my presence. That’s not how things work. I’m not defiled by the words and actions and thoughts of someone else, only by the words and actions and thoughts that come from my own heart. That’s important to remember.
This passage teaches us how to live out our faith in the world. It says, “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no-one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility towards all men.” (Titus 3:1–2, NIV). Notice that it is speaking about rulers and authorities at the beginning and ends with “all men.” It’s talking about how to live outside of the church in the world. As we live out our faith in the world, God calls us to be subject to rulers and authorities. God calls us to be obedient. God calls us to be ready to do whatever is good. God calls us not to slander anyone. God calls us to be peaceable. God calls us to be considerate of others. God calls us to show true humility.
God calls us to do all of these things IN THE WORLD, in the midst of unrighteousness. God calls us to be subject and obedient in a world that is rebellious. God calls us to be peaceable and not slanderous in a world of hatred. God calls us to be considerate and humble in a world that is prideful and selfish. God calls us to live out our faith in the world—to be lights in the darkness, salt and leaven in the world.
Yet, how do you handle yourself when interacting with people who are unrighteous? How do you speak to someone peaceably and considerately when they are slandering you in anger? How do you live a submissive and obedient life in the midst of rebellious people?
In some way, there are typically two reactions when we are forced to live our faith out in the world. Some end up becoming like the rest of the world. They are surrounded by unrighteousness and end up becoming unrighteous themselves. They are not salt, light, or leaven, but play-dough that picks up everything it comes into contact with and transforms nothing. However, others see the unrighteousness of the world and become angry, frustrated, and offended. Rather than becoming like the world, they literally look at the world and say, “To Hell with all of you!” They separate themselves from the world, unwilling for their righteousness to come into contact with unrighteousness, frustrated and offended by the unrighteousness of the world.
Neither response is right. So, how do we live in the world without becoming like the world? How do we live in the world without only hurling condemnation at the world? Paul says that the Gospel is the only solution.
The first step is to preach the gospel to yourself. Paul says, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” (Titus 3:3, NIV). This addresses both issues.
For those who are tempted to separate themselves from the culture because it is “too corrupt,” Paul reminds you that you were once like them. When you want to remove yourself from someone who is too foolish, Paul reminds you that you were once foolish. When you want to remove yourself from someone who is too disobedient, Paul reminds you that you were disobedient. When you want to separate yourself from someone who is full of hatred and envy, Paul reminds you that you were once full of hatred and envy. When you find yourself next to a woman who is cussing like a sailor, it’s important to remember that at one time you cussed like a sailor.
This accomplishes two things. First, it allows us to show grace to people. When we remember our fallen past, the messed up things we’ve done, it helps us show grace to others who are making the same mistakes we once made. We’ve been there before—done that, got the T-shirt. Yet, it also reminds us that we were saved from this lifestyle and God can save them from it too.
You see, even though you were in a really messed up place, God saved you. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…” (Titus 3:4–5, NIV). God reached into your mess and pulled you out of the pit. God reached into your foolish, disobedient, and envious life and saved you from its destruction.
And he didn’t do it because you deserved it. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:4–5, NIV). God did not save you because He looked down on the earth and saw a basically good person. No. He saw a foolish, disobedient, envious, malicious, and enslaved person and said, “I’m going to show my undeserved mercy on that person and pull them out of the pit and save them.” It had nothing to do with you. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t deserve it. It was purely by God’s mercy and grace.
“He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5–7, NIV). He saved you by washing you clean, by making you a new person by being born again, by filling you with the Holy Spirit who will guide you into all truth.
He did this so that you would be justified—declared NOT GUILTY before God. He did this so that you would become one of His children—adopted into God’s family. And, as a child of God, you are one of his heirs, awaiting the full inheritance of eternal life.
For those tempted to become like the world as they live in the world, Paul reminds you that you have been saved from the world. You used to be like these people, but Christ has saved you from this lifestyle and brought you from death to life. You don’t want to go back down that road. He has cleansed you, redeemed you, restored you from death. Don’t be tempted to fall back into that lifestyle.
Yet, we can’t remove ourselves from the world either. For those who are tempted to separate themselves from the world—condemning it because of all their unrighteous actions—you need to remember the gospel too. God looked at you in all your unrighteous actions and showed you mercy. God looked at you in all your hatred and malice and envy and showed you mercy. Now, He calls us to enter the world showing that same mercy. Of course, the world doesn’t deserve the mercy—we didn’t either. Of course, the world hasn’t done anything to earn our mercy and compassion—we didn’t either. Yet, God calls us to remember the mercy He showed us, then enter the world with that same mercy—living submissive, obedient, compassionate, courteous, peaceable, and gentle lives in this world.
Yet, in showing mercy to the world, we must show them the ultimate mercy of God through the gospel. We must show them that God has saved us from our messed up lives and He can save them too. We can show them that we once were just like them, but God saved us and has given us life. We can help them see that they don’t have to earn this salvation, but simply repent, turn to Christ in faith and trust Him for their salvation, and He will do it, washing them, filling them with the Spirit, adopting them into God’s family, and giving them the hope of eternal life.
I also have to say, that as we do this in the world, and people are saved by God from their sins, the Kingdom of God increases…but that doesn’t necessarily mean our church will increase…and that’s just fine. It’s more important for us to be focused on growing God’s Kingdom than growing our own church. Our job is to go out into the world with the gospel—living it and speaking it—trusting God to work through it. When we do that faithfully, we can trust God to take care of the rest. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33, NIV).