v 8 – “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”

  • Concerning these things:
    • 3:1 – Those in the Church should be obedient – to rulers, to authorities, and to be ready for every good deed
    • 3:2 – To malign no one, being instead peaceable, gentle, and showing every consideration for all men. Romans 12:10 – out do one another in honoring one another.
    • 3:3 – For we ourselves were once as they are – foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our own lives in malice and envy – hateful and hating one another.
    • 3:4 – BUT, when the kindness of God our savior and his love for us appeared-
    • 3:5 – HE SAVED US. Saved us from those things, despite the attitude of our heart which loved those things about ourselves. He saves us not because we were already righteous, nor because we had done enough good to qualify for his salvation, but according to his own mercy and his own grace. To his glory, not our own. This was accomplished through the washing of regeneration – why which our hearts of stone (unable to respond to his message nor acknowledge his role in our lives, much less repent) are replaced with hearts of flesh (which are enabled to reach out to him – no longer the hearts of Adam after the fall, but new hearts, like those of Adam before the fall, and able to repent and believe) – and by our Holy-Spirit led renewal (our constant renewal – day by day – in which we are taught by the Holy Spirit of God within us how we should now live and respond to the work of God in our lives and also in the world.)
    • 3:6 – This Holy Spirit of God was been poured out on us, freely and openly, by Jesus the Christ who is our Savior.
    • 3:7 – The purpose of our redemption and renewal, bought by God on our behalf and to his glory alone, is so that we would be heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We are now brought into the family of God and, as the Jews in the days of old, now we too have the eternal hope opened to us – that our sins have been covered by the promised deliverer to Eve in Genesis 3, and that our true enemy – sin and death, has been destroyed and has now no power over us. We now live in the hope of our life to come. Our lives are no longer directed by only the 80-100 years of this temporal realm, but by the fact that this is merely the waiting room for our eternal dwelling with God who is blessed forever. Amen.
  • Paul encourages Titus to speak confidently in this regard, that our salvation is the lynch pin upon which the whole of our faith resides. Our eternal dwelling is that which encourages us to abandon these mere worldly desires, and instead to press ourselves to the service of our true King – our true God. The one who died in our place so that we may live and serve him forever.
  • Our life in Christ is marked by a desire to do good deeds. Not merely doing the deeds which we know are good because they are “right” and “proper”, from a worldly perspective, for Christians to pursue.
    • The work performed by those so-called Christians, is without both the power and motivation which allows it to be God honoring. It is merely like those Pharisees that loudly drop their coins into the coffer so everyone sees their gift, or who, in their public humiliation through fasting and the like, do so that everyone will see their actions and ascribe to them honor for their “work” for God.
    • The work performed by Christians – true Christians, is that which comes naturally from a converted heart.
      • It pours forth in action for those first in the church, and then to those outside the church.
      • It is often performed in secret, so that no one will bring glory to the man, but just revel in the fact that the issue was resolved.
      • It is God-honoring, not man-honoring. The focus is, and will always be, that God is the one who receives all the glory for the work performed.
      • It is not bathed in self-humiliation, but in God-focused faith. God is the one who provides and the one who meets the needs of his people, often through the outworking of His Church in service to one another.
  • v 9 – “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”
  • The leaders of the Church of God, as well as those in the body, should be mindful about that which they choose to engage. There are always controversies and battles to be fought, but like a leader who is controlling troops in a war, we should also be concerned about that which we choose to do battle.
  • Items which need addressing:
    • Anything which is leading to the disruption of the body of Christ.
    • Battles over the authenticity of the Bible, or the truth claims about Jesus the Christ.
    • Ostensibly Christian organizations which fall away – as a reminder that we must always be on guard of our own hearts, but not pursued to the point where the focus of the Church swings to pursuing that issue instead of the pursuit of Christ alone.
  • Those which should be dropped:
    • Tertiary issues which lead only to endless discussion but have no eternal reward:
      • Manner and timing of baptism
      • Wine or Juice
      • Translation of the Bible used
      • Eschatology (pre-mil, post-mil, amil, etc)
      • Psalmody-only vs hymns used in worship
      • Etc.
    • As Jesus had said, do not throw your pearls before swine. Do not engage with the world in disputes which have no bearing on the church. The world has no part or parcel in the Christian life, much less how we interact with the world, so it should have no impact on us or how we do anything. We don’t ask vegans how to run a steak house, so we also don’t let atheists or agnostics direct how we perform our worship.

v 10-11 – “Reject a factious man (one who stirs up controversy) after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.”

  • When people arise in the body, they should be marked immediately. These are those who seek to elevate their own knowledge and tear down others. They do not seek the unity of the church, but division – even attempting to break up churches over their own self-driven convictions. Convictions which lead them, at all costs, to push their agenda about these same tertiary things noted above, and attempt to convince others that these low-level issues are as important, or sometimes even more, as the core doctrines of the faith.
  • The problem is that many of these people tend to be quiet for a while – sleeper agents for Satan, who are self-deceived false converts. It is therefore the role of the leaders of the Church to know the hearts of those in their care. You try to reach out to them and turn them to the truth of Scripture, and the preeminence of unity in the body of Christ. Sometimes even leading us, in the body, to forsake our own deeply held conviction about certain items, so that we will be able to reach across the aisle for the sake of Christ.
  • If that person rejects all direction, they are to be treated as anyone else who is sinning. Following the Matthew 18 method, they are to be brought to the church and, if continuing in unrepentance, they are to be ejected from the body of believers. Sowing discontent within the Church is the same as any other grievous sin, and must be removed from the body as a cancerous tumor is removed from flesh. It cannot be allowed to continue to stay and must be excised for the sake of the body – so that their discontent and division would be allowed to grow.
  • That person, much like any other person removed from the Church, should be prayed for. There is always a path restoration – a path to re-inclusion within the body. But defense of the Church of Christ is the primary goal of these leaders of the Church. They are in role of caring for and leading those lost sheep of God; raising them up to the point of self-sustaining, and even God-driven replication. To the growth of the Church to the glory of God and salvation of his Elect wherever they may be.