Sunday, October 14,
2012, 7:58 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “He Gives Purpose” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Titus 1
(NIV 1984):
Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge
of the truth that leads to godliness— a faith and knowledge resting on the hope
of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of
time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the
preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
To Titus, my true son
in our common faith:
Grace and peace from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
The reason I left you
in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint
elders in every town, as I directed you. An elder must be blameless, the
husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the
charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s
work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to
drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be
hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy
and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been
taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who
oppose it.
For there are many
rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole
households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of
dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always
liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke
them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention
to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. To the pure,
all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing
is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to
know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient
and unfit for doing anything good.
A
Servant of God
Paul identified himself to Titus as a servant
of God and an apostle (sent out one; messenger; ambassador) of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of his apostleship that he mentioned here was two-fold: 1) For the
faith of God’s elect and 2) For the knowledge of the truth that leads to
godliness. Paul’s job (assignment) from Jesus was to open eyes that were
spiritually blind, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan to God, so they might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those
who are being sanctified and made holy by God (see Acts 26:16-18). Yet, was
this his assignment alone?
As followers of Christ, we are all his
servants (slaves of righteousness), his friends, his brothers and sisters, and
co-heirs with him as children of God, sharing with Christ in his sufferings, in
death to sin and in resurrection to new life in Christ Jesus. We are all “sent
out ones,” as he has commanded all of us to GO and make disciples of all
nations. We are all messengers for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we each have
a part in the body of Christ to help the other parts of the body to grow
spiritually; and to build them up in the Lord and in the faith.
We are all supposed to encourage one another
by our faith, by our actions and by our words and testimony for Jesus Christ.
We each have been given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit of God for the
encouragement, strengthening, and edification (instruction; improvement) of the
Body of Christ. We are all expected to be lights for the gospel of Jesus
Christ, and we are all meant to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness. So,
although we are not all called to do exactly what Paul did, we each share in
the responsibility of sharing the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and of discipling
other believers to maturity in Christ and to godliness.
Hold
Firmly
We, as well, are not all called to be elders
of a church, especially women are not supposed to hold positions of spiritual
authority over men within the church. Yet, these spiritual and moral
requirements for an elder, for the most part, are spiritual characteristic
traits that we should all emulate. Many of these are required of us, as well.
We should all be blameless - not perfect, but not living in willful sin and
rebellion against God, but daily repenting of any known sin, and daily choosing
to give all we have to Jesus Christ in faithful obedience, and to follow him
wherever he leads us. None of us should be quick-tempered. We should all be slow
to speak and slow to become angry; and to be patient, gentle and kind. None of
us should be given to drunkenness, but we should all be continually being
filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Not one of us should be given to violence
or be in pursuit of dishonest gain. We should all be self-controlled, upright,
holy and disciplined, and be ones who love what is good.
We all are also given the charge to hold
firmly to the trustworthy message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so we can
encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Paul said we
are saved by this gospel IF we hold firmly to the word preached to us.
Otherwise, we have believed in vain (see 1 Co. 15:2). We are expected to stand
firm, and to not let anything move us from the hope and truth of the gospel of
Christ (see 1 Co. 15:58). We are to be on our guard, to stand firm in the
faith, to be people of courage, and to be strong (see 1 Co. 16:13). Christ
Jesus has set us free from a yoke of slavery to sin and to religious external
requirements for salvation, so we are to stand firm in that freedom in Christ
and not yield to becoming slaves of unrighteousness or slaves of men or
man-made religion again (see Gal. 5:1). We are also to stand firm against the
wicked schemes of the evil one by daily putting on the spiritual armor of God
(see Eph. 6:10-20). And we, also, are all to watch our doctrine and life
closely (see 1 Tim. 4:16).
Mere
Talkers
We should hold firmly to the truth of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and to our faith in Christ for our own relationship with
Jesus Christ and our walk of obedience to Christ to grow and to be
strengthened. We should also do so in order to encourage other followers of
Christ toward spiritual maturity and godliness. And, we should do so in order
to not be led astray or to be taken captive to false doctrines that would lead
us away from the truth and from our pure devotion to Jesus Christ, for there
are many rebellious people who are mere talkers and deceivers whose goal is to
try to talk us out of our strong faith, and to try to talk us into a
watered-down version of the gospel (gospel-lite) and to a more casual approach
to God.
These “mere talkers and deceivers” are those
who have the appearance of godliness, but they deny the power of God in their
lives. They deceive naïve minds into thinking that they are the real deal, but
they are phony. They talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk. Just because
something sounds good, does not mean it is good or right, true or honest. This
is why we need to know the word of God and what it teaches, or at least we need
to be checking out what we hear against the word of God (under the New
Covenant) to make sure what is being taught is what the word teaches.
Many of these “mere talkers and deceivers” do
so for the sake of dishonest gain, either for financial gain, for reputation, and/or
for increase in numbers of people and/or followers, etc. They know exactly what
they are doing. I am convinced, though, that others follow them and do what
they do because they have bought into the lie but don’t realize it is a lie. We
need to be so wise and discerning here so that we don’t buy into the lies of
Satan and of men, thinking that we are believing the truth of God’s word. And,
the only way we can do that is if we are in relationship with Jesus Christ,
first of all, through faith (repentance and obedience), and if we are growing
in him through time in his word, in prayer and in obeying what his word teaches
us.
He
Gives Purpose / An Original Work / June 9, 2012
“Listen
to Me when I’m calling to you.
Obey
freely My word.
Follow
Me in all of My ways.
Do
all that I say.
Hear
Me gently whisper to you
My
will for your life and future.
Give
all of your life and heart to
Follow
Me always.”
Repent
of your sins and worship Jesus.
He’s
your Lord and Master.
He
died for your sins so you could
Live
with Him today.
He
has a plan for your life and
He
gives purpose and direction.
He
gives meaning to your life,
So
follow Him today.
“I
love you so much I gave My life for
You
to walk in My ways,
Living
for Me each day as you
Bow
to Me and pray.
Witness
for Me of your love for Me and
Of
My grace and mercy,
How
I died to save you of your
Sins
now and always.”
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