Titus 3

Bible Study with Pastor Terry Gray

3 PRINCIPLES TO LIVE AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS

1. Understand the Grace of God (Titus 3:3-8)
Allow the Grace of God to guide us in doing good things.

Picture of those who are not saved (Paul includes his past self): Titus 3:3-4
Foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and addiction. Non-Christians stand condemned before God, guilty. Their future is judgment.

Picture of those who are saved (Titus 3:5):
All sins are washed away and forgiven. Those who are saved are renewed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, justified by faith.

How do we go from being unsaved to saved? 


Titus 3:5
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Not by our own works! There is nothing we can do to move ourselves over. We can never earn it. We can never be good enough. This isn't just some low-confidence mumble jumble. God has set a standard for righteousness. The Law was given to us to illustrate just how strict that standard is. 

James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

When we say, "we can never be good enough," that is a FACT. One unclean thought, and we fall short of God's standard. The ONLY human who did not fall short was the god-man, Jesus Christ. This is why only Jesus' blood has the power to cleanse us from our sins. This is why we cannot depend on ourselves to reach salvation.

God in his grace sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins. Good people don't go to Heaven. Only sinners whose sins have been forgiven by God's grace through faith go to Heaven! 

Titus 3:8
... those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good

We are to maintain good works. Why? We are motivated by the grace of God. We do good works because God is AWESOME to us. He saved us from eternal condemnation. He changed our lives. He changed our destiny! We are saved by the grace of God. We should also live by the grace of God.

1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

Be mindful of grace of God continuously. Let God's grace be our motivation to excel. 

2. Strive for unity and harmony in the Church (Titus 3:9-11)
Jesus prayed for us to be one in him! There are teachings that can come into the church and destroy the unity and cause in-fighting, bickering. This was true in the early church, and this is true today.

Titus 3:9
Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless

Back then, early Christians fought over trivial things like genealogy. There are people today who continue to argue over such details. Some studying Hebrew myths and fables claim that genealogies must be studied because God was putting together a new Hebrew tribe.

Then, there were those who were obsessed with the Law, etc.

Paul says arguing over these topics are useless and unprofitable.

For example, Christians today fight over whether we can dress a certain way, whether we can dance, etc. Even churches become divided over such issues--such LEGALISTIC issues!

What was Jesus' two commands for us? Love God. Love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).

If our heart is not with God, then it doesn't matter whether we dress a certain way or remove ourselves from the dance floor--or whatever else we prevent ourselves from doing. If our heart is not with God, then anything we try to do to bring ourselves closer to God is hypocritic--very much like the Pharisees who kept themselves ritualistic clean on the outside but remained spiritually unclean on the inside.

When our heart is not with God, and all we do is bicker over legalistic details, we cause a rift in the Church. We all have our own convictions, including how to dress, how to read the Bible, how communion should be conducted, becoming overly obsessed with semantics rather than staying true to the Word, focusing on one portion of the Truth in the Bible rather than ALL of the Truth, etc. If these convictions are neither supported nor refuted in the Bible, and these convictions help some of us in our walk with God, great. Follow through with these convictions, but keep them to ourselves; don't force them onto others. Do not cause strife in the Church over legalism. That is simply not the heart of God.

Titus 3:10
Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.

Two. That is the number of chances Paul suggests we give to people who aim to divide. At a certain point, a line must be drawn to keep divisive people out, especially when such people show no will to stop or to work WITH the body of Christ (as opposed to against it). A good shepherd keeps the lambs safe from the attacks of wolves. No good shepherd would invite wolves into his flock!

3. Get excited about God's work and get practically involved (Titus 3:12-15)

Titus 3:14
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.

Maintain good works.

Paul surrounded himself by a team of lawyers (Zenas) and other godly men (Apollos). All were flexible, ready to do God's work, especially where God has positioned them in life, be it a lawyer or a preacher. There was a lot to be done back in Paul's day, and there continues to be a lot to be done today.

As God's people, we should all get practically involved. As mentioned above, it is not that good works save us, but rather, we do good works because we are saved. Doing good works is a part of our growth as Christians and maintains our walk with God. And just as Paul surrounded himself with Christian men and women, we, too, should get involved with a Christian community. It is easier for Satan to attack those who isolate themselves. It is much harder to attack a group of strong Christian men and women!