Route 66: Titus - From Sound Doctrine to Righteous Living

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Titus, chapter 3.

Titus 3 · chapter mention

We're going to be going through this book tonight and we're doing a series where we are surveying each book of the Bible, so we're in Titus.

I'm going to read just a portion for us as we start here Titus, chapter 3, verses 4 to 8.

Titus 3:4–8

Portion for us as we start here Titus, chapter 3, verses 4 to 8.

Titus 3:4–8

But when the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done, but, according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

He poured out his spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

This saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God might be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These are good and profitable for everyone.

Let's pray, lord.

We thank you for your words.

We feel such in our own hearts at times, the light that you want us to shine before men, the light we actually do shine.

There's a such a gap there.

But we pray that you'd make us people who are zealous for good works, make us people who are eager for all the teaching that accords with these good works.

And would your word strengthen our resolve, but, more than that, strengthen our dependence on Christ, strengthen our realization of our need of Jesus Christ and the glory of our Savior, who has accomplished so much for us and is even at work in us.

Be at work in us through this word.

Tonight.

We ask in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, amen.

The book of Titus is a letter that Paul wrote to Titus and their traveling companions, and, according to chapter one, verse five of Titus, paul has left Titus behind on the island of Crete, there in the Mediterranean ocean, and he's got a specific role in mind for Titus.

Titus wasn't in trouble, he wasn't getting relegated.

He did something wrong.

But apparently there were Christians on Crete that had heard the good news, been evangelized, were converted, were starting to meet together, and yet these churches weren't as wellered as they could be.

And so Paul leaves Titus behind on Crete to help these churches become more well-ordered churches, and he writes this letter as an encouragement to Titus.

And one of the key ideas that Paul's going to reiterate in this letter is that Titus, be sure to tell Christians to maintain good works.

Let me show you that emphasis.

Chapter 2, verse 7.

In everything, make yourself an example of good works, with integrity and dignity in your teaching.

Then look down chapter 2, verse 14.

He, that is, Christ, gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse us for himself.

A people, for his own possession, eager to do good works.

Chapter 3, verse 1,.

Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work.

Chapter three, verse eight.

This saying is trustworthy.

I read this already, but listen again.

I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These are good and profitable for everyone.

So you can see the importance of good works.

It's repeated.

You can even see it in the way that Paul speaks of the false teachers.

If you go back to chapter 1, verse 16, there were some that were disturbing some of these churches with wrong teaching.

And look what Paul says about them in chapter 1, verse 16.

They claim to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for any good work.

So there's a key idea in this letter Christians must maintain good works.

But Paul doesn't just leave that theme kind of dangling in the air on its own.

He builds a foundation for those good works in the sound doctrine Timothy's called to give to these people.

And that sound doctrine, that good teaching, is that foundation from which those good works can grow and flourish.

If you want to get a main idea for the book of Titus, I'm going to suggest this as one main idea.

We're going to focus on this for tonight.

Good doctrine should produce good works.

Should produce good works.

Good doctrine should produce good works.

I'll start with the good doctrine, then we'll move on to the good works.

So first doctrine, and I mean by that teaching truths, important truths about who God is, who we are, who Christ is.

So if you're thinking you have to have an encyclopedia, that's not necessarily what I mean by that.

But if you think teaching good, biblical, faithful teaching of key core truths, look at how the book begins, in chapter 1, verse 1.

Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

What leads to godliness?

Knowledge of the truth, what builds up your faith?

When you grasp that you were chosen by God for salvation through Jesus Christ.

That's good doctrine.

Turn over to chapter two to see some more of this.

Verse number 12 of chapter two says that we should live in a godly way in the present age.

But what enables us to do that present age?

But what enables us to do that?

Well, look back in verse number 11.

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.

It's that saving grace that instructs us and that changes us.

Look down to verse 14.

He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness, to cleanse for himself the people, for his own possession, eager to do good works.

Because Jesus Christ redeemed us for that, he cleansed us.

He bought us out of the marketplace of sin.

Why would we want to go back and dirty ourselves with bad works?

He saved us.

Remember that.

Note how he saved us.

If you set out to do good works merely in your own strength, you're going to fail.

You might do some good things from a public vantage point, but you're not going to have the kind of good works that God calls us to.

Turn to chapter 3, verse 8.

That's where he says again that people should devote themselves to good works.

But he's just talked about a trustworthy saying and you've got to go back and look at what he's already said.

All the way back up in verse number five he saved us not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy.

We're not saved by good works, we're saved for good works.

That's a key doctrine that we have to grasp.

We're not saved by our good works.

Paul says right there it's purely God's mercy.

It's the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit that gave us new birth.

It's the declaration of God that we've been justified, declared righteous in his sight, not because of our works but because of the work of Jesus Christ, credited to our account, and even were justified because our sins were credited or laid on Jesus Christ's account.

That's the doctrinal foundation.

We have to understand that.

Do you want to grow in godliness, you have to know who the Redeemer is and what he's accomplished.

You have to bask in the light of the glory of good doctrine, seen in the person of Jesus Christ, and then you'll shine.

You should shine all the more in those good works.

Sometimes you'll hear people say you know, doctrine really isn't that important, it's what counts as a life well-lived.

That's wrong, that's unbiblical.

Don't say it, don't believe it, don't affirm it.

That's exactly opposite of what Paul says right here in Titus.

He says just the opposite.

No, when you understand justification and regeneration and election, think about these things.

That's what will help stir you up to good works.

Okay, but I hear someone say and this is a common objection, certainly from unbelievers, sometimes also from Christians People will say, okay, I hear what you're saying, I see that in Titus.

But I know some people and they're so excited about doctrine but it doesn't seem like their lives really are showcasing that much of a change, like there seems to be a big disconnect.

So, like, I don't get that.

That's an objection people will have right.

Here's a few responses to that.

The first one I think you already know what I don't get that.

That's an objection people will have right.

Here's a few responses to that.

The first one I think you already know what I'm going to say.

If we believe that the Bible is God's inspired word, it's perfectly true and sufficient.

We never put our own experience ahead of the Bible.

We never should say well, I see what it says in scripture and the reasoning Paul uses and inspired by God.

But I met this person and that didn't seem like it was the case.

So maybe no, we inform our experience from the Bible, not vice versa.

Second, yes, there is a certain kind of doctrinal zeal that's not helpful, and Titus talks about that.

Look at chapter 3, verse 9.

But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless.

Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning, for you know that such a person is has gone astray and is sitting.

He's self-condemned.

There are people that they have a certain kind of zeal and they'd like to talk about doctrine on some level.

But they just like to argue.

They like to show off their so-called knowledge, their ornery.

They don't have the aroma of Christ.

They major on minors, say well, okay, well, how do we know what's major and what's minor?

That's not an easy question.

It's a difficult question.

But here's one thing that might help us in that the more a doctrine showcases who the Lord Jesus Christ is in his glory and how people are saved, the more important it is for us to emphasize.

So I'm not saying any doctrine is unimportant it can actually be found in scripture but the more it pertains to Christ and his glory and the salvation of sinners.

Those things are especially important to emphasize.

You might say, okay, I hear you, but there are some people who they're not emphasizing you know the wrong things, they're not majoring on minors, but there still seems to be a disconnect in their life.

Well, that can happen and that's a sad thing.

That's a them problem, not a Bible problem.

So just understand where the challenge lies.

And it's okay to challenge a person.

Paul actually tells Titus in this letter rebuke, exhort, correct.

Those words come up throughout the letter of Titus.

So it's okay to challenge a person, but we don't want to challenge scripture.

You understand where I'm going with this.

Or just help us to think and speak clearly about the Bible's relationship between good doctrine, this foundation, and good works, which we're going to come to in a moment.

So you know, it's okay, after the men's study, to say you know, tom, you so well articulated regeneration, and that was wonderful.

Has it thoroughly sunk in in your life?

What do you mean?

Well, just so often, the way you talk to your wife, it sounds more like the old man in Adam than the new man in Christ.

That's fine.

It's okay to challenge a person, but please don't say well, you know, I think for all of us I mean, you know, regeneration, that's a big word.

We don't really care about big words, but we all can agree we should love our spouses more.

Yes, we should, absolutely.

But when you throw out the doctrine you're eroding the foundation that's going to help you do those good works like loving your wife all the more.

So good doctrine and we could even maybe sharpen that Good doctrine should produce good works.

We could, if you want, to make it a little tighter gospel doctrine should produce gospel living, just to kind of highlight.

We're not talking about every single thing, although all scripture is profitable, but especially those things that pertain to Christ and his glory and our salvation.

So that's first big idea is the good doctrine foundation.

Now let's press into some of these good works.

I'm going to talk about good works in three arenas good works in church leadership, good works in relationships and good works in our public lives.

One overarching comment I think for some of us our idea of a good work is an occasional, isolated act of kindness to a stranger.

I saw my neighbor struggling to shovel his snow and I helped him last January 14th.

Good works are important.

Yep, I gave a thousand dollars to Compassion International so they could help with children that are struggling.

Those are good works.

So I'm not saying don't do those things.

What I am saying is I think when you read through Titus and if you haven't done that, I encourage you to do it you could read it in less than an hour, no problem.

In the book of Titus good works run broader and deeper than only isolated, occasional acts.

When I think about good works I'm thinking about the way we live our lives.

That includes our character towards others.

We live our lives.

That includes our character towards others.

It involves the regular life-on-life relationships that we have.

So that's harder actually, in a lot of ways to do good works in those spheres.

But it's part of what God's calling us to and I hope we'll see that as we go through these things.

So first, good works in church leadership Go back to chapter one.

And so again, paul's purpose in leaving Titus in Crete was to help some of these churches be more well-ordered.

So he encourages Titus to help with overseeing having elders established in every place.

That's the first good work for Titus is help get elders established in every place.

Look at chapter 1, verse 5.

The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone, undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.

And he's talking about spiritual leaders here.

We tend to think that every town has 50 churches.

That wasn't the way it worked in Bible times.

So he's talking about not so much political leaders but spiritual leaders.

You can see that from the way they're described, how they compare with the elders in 1 Timothy, chapter 3.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

But you can have a church without any elders, without any pastors those words are interchangeable in the Bible but you can't have a well-ordered church without those things.

So church, town, place singular elders plural.

That's part of this good work.

He's called them to.

Singular elders plural.

That's part of this good work he's called them to.

And, yes, they're supposed to promote the faithful message.

Look at verse number nine, holding to the faithful message.

This is describing these men who would be appointed as elders, as taught.

There's the sound doctrine.

But if you scan down, much of this description of these men is taken up with their character.

Just scan down verses 7 to 9.

And you'll see things like managing their own homes, not being arrogant, not being easily angered, not a bully or a money grubber or drunk, say well, that sounds like.

Shouldn't this be kind of true of all Christians?

What's so special about those things?

Yes, those things should be true of all Christians.

Elders are not called to live good works in a saintly halo kind of way that no one else can remotely imitate.

Rather, there's the connection here of the elders that are teaching and promoting the faithful message, the sound doctrine, encouraging people to good works.

They're living lives, not perfectly, but consistently, modeling what that connection of doctrine and life looks like, so that people can hear and receive and do themselves.

They also have to correct people that are bringing in bad teaching.

That's one of the good works they have to do.

Look at verse 9.

Hold him to the faithful message so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.

And I won't go on.

But the rest of this chapter speaks of these people who have some influences in the church but they're not teaching a sound doctrine.

So part of what Titus has to do is help these men learn how to correct.

So you see how that's personal, that's relational.

You can imagine a phone call.

Hey, this is Titus, I'm just checking in First Baptist Church of Fairhaven that's one of the towns in Crete How's it going?

Oh, it's going well, you know.

Thank you for checking in.

We've been trying to serve faithfully as elders.

There is one thing there's some guys that have been teaching you've got to keep the whole Jewish law and they're people like them.

They're kind of popular and maybe you could just kind of Titus, come back and do a workshop on the old covenant, the new covenant.

That would really help us All.

Right, let me, I'll get back to you and Titus calls Paul.

Hey, paul.

Paul says how's it going?

You and Titus calls Paul.

Hey, paul.

Paul says how's it going?

Titus says yeah, it's going pretty good in Crete.

Hey, there's a few men in a few churches that got some confusions about the Jewish law and its importance and circumcision.

I thought maybe you could just come back to Crete and do a little workshop on the old covenant and the new covenant.

What's Paul going to say?

Titus, the reason I left you in Crete was so that you could train those other men, so that they could deal with those false teachers.

Right?

You see how personal this is.

Sometimes in America.

Our idea of a good work is let's throw money at something Now.

Giving generously is a good work and we have a lot of money to give, so I'm all for that.

But it's not just for the professionals to do good work or teach about good works.

That's for all of us to engage in, and particularly here in this first place.

The elders.

Second arena good works and relationships Go over to chapter 2.

Second arena good works and relationships go over to chapter two.

So here paul highlights categories in the first six verses, categories of older men, older women, younger women, younger men.

And in verse one he says that titus is to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching.

There's the sound teaching, sound doctrine.

Then he goes on to tell Titus about the character and lives of these older men, older women, younger men, younger women.

And so he's supposed to teach these things, presumably in the context of the church.

I'm sure Titus went around to homes as well, but he's teaching in the church about how people are to live in their relationships in the church and in their relationships in the home.

There's a spillover kind of effect here.

And if you note, there it says that in verse number three, the older women are to teach what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, and it goes on.

So there's this specific idea of good works being modeled, yes, in word and spoken, but also, indeed, older women to younger women and presumably older men to younger men.

Good works flourish best from that strong doctrinal foundation and good works in our relationships flourish best in a context of intergenerational discipleship in a church.

That was a mouthful.

Let me explain that Intergenerational 80-year-olds, 60-year-olds, 40-year-olds, 20-year-olds, people of different age groups coming together to learn and grow from one another in the context of the church.

That's what Paul says directly here.

Sometimes I'll have a conversation with someone who's maybe new to the area and they're looking for a church, and the conversation turns to kind of what they're looking for in a church and often preaching will come up.

I'm looking for sound, bible-based preaching and teaching that magnifies Christ.

Absolutely Awesome, let's talk about that.

That's great, I'm all for that.

And then, as we get talking sometimes nestled right underneath that or sometimes above that, depending on the phone call or whatever whoever it might be new to the area, the person wants to know this about the church how many people in the church are just like me?

They don't say it that way, right?

It's phrased in a more spiritual way and a sincere way.

I don't mean not sincere, but it'd be like this Do you have any discipleship groups for divorced dads in their 30s who like to play ultimate Frisbee?

Let me take a wild guess Are you a divorced dad in your 30s who likes to play ultimate Frisbee?

You see what I'm saying.

Do you have any support groups for mothers who have children who've had their tonsils out in the last six months?

Because it's just hard.

Yeah, it is hard.

Can I take a wild guess?

One of your kids had their tonsils out in the last six months.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm sure Paul would have been happy for divorced dads to go out and play ultimate Frisbee and have some prayer, maybe afterwards.

Wonderful Moms getting together.

So it's not that that's wrong.

It's just that's not Paul's program for stirring up good works.

His program is make sure you get older people together with younger people and that'll stir up good works.

You that are greeters maybe?

I don't see.

I see a few greeters here.

Don't raise your hand now, but come up to me afterwards.

I'm like I'm sincerely curious.

If this has happened, come, tell me how many of you that are greeters?

You're talking to someone who's a first-time visitor.

She says, hey, we're here in the area.

We're looking for a place that really teaches the Bible.

Great, that's awesome.

You know, let me introduce you to some people.

And she says, yeah, you know what else?

I've only been married three years but I'm just, I'm struggling to submit to my husband and he loves the Lord and I just I need an older woman in my life who can really get in my life so that the word of God won't be blasphemed.

Can I find that here?

How many of you have ever had that conversation as a greeter?

If you have, please come tell me afterwards.

I'd be curious.

You know you're a greeter.

Young guy comes up.

He says, hey, here, looking for a church.

That's really sound doctrine.

Here's what I'm thinking is biblical, and I saw your website and statement of faith and I'm excited about it.

I got to tell you something else, boy.

I struggle with self-control, but I'm just, I'm hoping there'll be some older men who just model what a dignified, self-controlled life looks like.

That I could get to know and like can I find that here?

You ever had anyone say that?

Right, it's peculiar, because that's precisely what Paul says that we should be looking for, because Christ changes us and he puts us together with people where he's the center point, not our hobby or our age or our fill in the blank, and it's.

I don't don't view this as a negative thing.

It's an amazing opportunity.

I mean, how awful would it be if I was in a church where 90% of the people were 40 year old singles.

That'd be terrible, you know I wouldn't want that.

I get a chance to learn from Bob Hornish and Bob Teets and Doug McMasters.

Hopefully in some small way I can encourage a Chad Driscoll, a Matthias, a Josiah.

That's the way God's designed us.

It's like those stories where people talk about how they learned to cook From a cookbook is a good way, but often they spent time with their grandmother in the kitchen just watching her and it rubbed off.

That's what life in the church is like.

That's how good works can be stirred up.

Last category good works in public life.

Look at chapter three.

So right after he says in verse one to be ready for every good work, he goes on to talk about not slandering anyone, avoiding fighting, being kind, showing gentleness to all people.

Now, that certainly would, I think, include people within the church, but I think it extends more broadly to the community.

We don't help in our overflow of good works if we're constantly spewing negative things, particularly negative things that might not be true.

Even if it's a person that's a bad character, we don't need to assume.

Well, someone else online said this bad thing about them, so I know they're a bad person, so it's probably true.

I'll just go ahead and retweet it.

Just take some time, give some consideration.

Yes, titus is urging people.

You've got to love the gospel so much that you can't put your preference per person ahead of sound doctrine.

You've got to hold that up.

But he puts that together with this instruction right here in verse number two if you have to show gentleness to all people, it's not easy to hold both of those things together.

But God calls us to in this call to good works, and Christ so amazingly modeled that tenacity for sound doctrine in the gospel and a respectful spirit towards all, and then, right as he said in the same verse, be ready for every good work.

He gives an example right before that Submit to rulers and authorities.

Did you ever think about public submission to political leaders as a good work?

I'll just give the thousand dollars to Compassion International and call it a day.

Do that, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.

Keep the money flowing Again.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not telling you not be generous in that way.

Well, paul does not know what it's like to live with these state taxes in New York.

Boy, let me tell you who was ruling when Paul wrote this letter to Titus Nero.

By way of reminder, if you weren't here last Sunday night for Mark's wonderful sermon, nero reportedly lit Christians on fire to light his garden.

I think, however bad you might feel, like you have it under Trump or Biden, whoever, I think Christians then had it pretty bad.

And Paul says you can show how the doctrine of Christ is flourishing in you by the way you submit to that kind of person.

Well, it's a challenge For most of us.

One of the spheres, and probably the sphere that we live most in in terms of our public life, of good works, is our place of work.

So it's good to vote, it's good you ought to go to a town hall meeting, but many of you, hours and hours a week, you're in a workplace where there's unbelievers.

How do you relate to your employer?

You know, paul instructs Titus, chapter two, verse nine slaves submit to their masters and everything and be well-pleasing.

That's an uncomfortable verse for us.

In Greco-Roman times the institution of slavery was not identical to what we find in 19th century America.

The Bible expressly says don't kidnap.

Now I don't mean that to say that in the Bible times it was easy to be a slave, or that they were always treated well, or that they were always treated well.

But Paul does say for those that find themselves in that position think that you're not just under a human person, you're ultimately serving the Lord, jesus Christ.

So some of you are sure that your boss is a slave driver.

Think then, how can I adorn?

Think then, how can I adorn doctrine with a way that I treat my boss?

Look at verse 10 of chapter 2.

Right in the same section Not stealing, demonstrating utter faithfulness so that they may adorn the teaching of God, our Savior, in everything.

Don't you want to make the gospel beautiful?

Beautiful?

It sounds almost heretical.

We can't add anything to the gospel.

Christ has done it all.

We just testify about it.

But Paul uses a specific language of adorning.

We can make the message.

We can't make it effective, but we can make the message sparkle, especially for those who don't have ears to hear and eyes to see.

This word adorn is used to describe the temple adorned with beautiful stones in Luke 21.

In Revelation 21, it's used to describe the temple adorned with beautiful stones in Luke 21.

In Revelation 21, it's used to describe the new Jerusalem coming down prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

In a very similar passage in 1 Peter, holy women adorned themselves by doing good.

You want to make people say, wow, you could put on some new cologne, you could get a haircut and put in some diamond earrings.

But doing good works is the way to make people really sit up and say I want to know more about that Christ that you say you serve.

And we can say let me tell you about the one who's redeemed me and made me eager to do what is good.

Let me tell you about the one who's redeemed me and made me eager to do what is good.

Good doctrine should produce good works, not for our justification, not for our salvation, but as an overflow of what we have received and I'm going to end.

This is from our own church's statement of faith.

So this is what we've.

Those who are members here, we've all covenanted and agreed together that we want to pursue this.

This is what the Bible says.

So this is from the section on justification.

It says we believe the gospel requires of us, out of a true sense of our sin and misery, to turn with grief and hatred from sin and receive and rest on Jesus Christ alone for salvation, that we might receive pardon for our sins and be accepted in God's sight as righteous only for the righteous of Christ and puter to us and received by faith alone.

There's the doctrine that Titus speaks of, also right here in this letter, and then our statement of faith goes on to say we believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification.

We're not trying to make that up, it comes right from the book of Titus.

So may good doctrine produce good works in our lives.

Let's pray.

Good doctrine produce good works in our lives.

Let's pray.

Lord, you've created us in Jesus Christ for good works, prepared from the foundation of the world that we might walk in them.

Oh Lord, help us to walk, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we've been called, to walk clothed with gentleness, peaceableness, zeal for you and your gospel.

Lord, help us to be ready to engage all the relationships in our lives, and some have certain priorities and we honor those, and yet we want to be eager to maintain what is good and right.

Lord, for any of us here who are struggling to understand those connection points and need to grow in our love of doctrine, would you cause that to happen?

For those of us here who perhaps aren't living out the Christian life as we could and like to talk and don't always live?

Oh, forgive us, lord, and cause us to see that justification and regeneration and your character of mercy and our understanding of your role in designing government and work and marriage and family and everything.

Life and death, it's all ours, but to be lived out before you.

May we do that with great thanksgiving for your amazing grace at work in us, and may we say it's not us but the grace of God in us, in Jesus' name amen.