Titus lesson 1 cont.

So we are in the first lesson of the book of Titus. I must say I'm enjoying. I've never studied this book before other than just to read it. But I'm really starting to enjoy it because the interesting factors that Paul the apostle is confronted with with Titus, and then lesson two, we're going to talk about exactly what kind of a role did Titus play in the implementation of the doctrine that Paul's going to lay out when he instructs him.

So at this point, we've been talking about servants, and we were finishing up on question three. Do all servants want to be slaves? There's a difference between being a servant and a slave, especially a doulos. It was said that a doulos is the most servile term used in the Greeks for a slave. In other words, this is someone who wanted the position, who had no thoughts of, boy, if I get free, I'm going to be out of here. They wanted to be there. They wanted to serve their master. And this word doulos isn't used a lot in terms of those who serve the Lord. They want to be there. They want to serve him.

And so the question is, do all servants want to be slaves? I mean, first of all, you could answer yes or no. The problem is that either way you answer, you've got to explain. I think it depends on who the master is. It all depends on that. Now, governments try to enslave their people, which they're trying to do to us now. That's not a servitude or a slavery that anybody would want, although there are people within that environment that do want that. Maybe that they think that they're going to be the master and everybody else is going to be a slave. But when it comes to, well, let me put it this way.

When Paul was born and lived up until he met Christ along the road to Damascus, was he a slave? Come on, it's yes or no. He was. And what was he a slave to? Sin. Did he want to be there? Yes. Sure he did. Because he thought that with the law and sin go together, and he thought that he could work his way out of that environment and be free from sin.

The problem is, I'm not sure he completely understood what slavery to sin really is. And I think good believers are like that. They don't really understand it. You know, those of you who are older know who Flip Wilson is. And he used to say that, in his common routine, that the devil made him do it. Well, the devil didn't make him do it. His sin nature did. But he was a slave to sin. We all are.

So he meets the Lord on the road to Damascus. And now he has a new master. And it's interesting, what did the Lord tell, who's the guy that went to talk to him, Ananias? What did he tell him that he was going to tell Paul? Yeah, I'll tell him what he's going to have to suffer for my namesake. In other words, right away, here is this relationship set up that the Lord Jesus is a master and Paul's going to be the slave.

And you know what? If I can't find anywhere that Paul ever looked back, one of the huge differences about the Apostle Paul and another great servant of the Lord, Moses, was that every once in a while Moses would kind of get tired of these Jews and he'd go to the Lord and he'd complain about them. These people, boy, I'm telling you, you never see Paul do that. He never does it. He's always in the mix. He doesn't complain.

And I can see, boy, what a, What an attachment he had or an intimacy he had with his master, the Lord Jesus. That it overrided all the disappointments. It wasn't that he wasn't disappointed, it was a lot. But it overrided his disappointment. You see that?

All right, in verse one, It says, Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and acknowledged of the truth, which is according to godliness. So when Paul says apostle of Jesus Christ, what does he mean?

Question four. Apostle by divine appointment? Yeah, he's a little stronger than that in that it's a command. It's an imperative. It's an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith and knowledge according to the godliness. How did he know he was this thing called an apostle? By the way, what's apostle mean? Go ahead. I'd say he saw, he literally saw Jesus like the other disciples that helped give a criteria that would allow him to be an apostle, potentially. I mean, he was an apostle. Yeah, he was.

So there's, as Cheryl said, a divine appointment, which I think is the seeing Jesus. There's also the terminology, like in Zodiac, it's an ambassador, you're to represent. And so I think is this more of the fact that he saw Jesus, so he's a apostle based on you know, physically seeing Christ, or is it more that he is now, which is the latter part of what he's supposed to do as an ambassador or representative of Christ, and that you're an apostle, you're an ambassador.

And how'd you get to be an apostle? What was the criteria? What's the most important element? You had to have seen the resurrected Christ. But are we, you know, it's kind of the term though, I mean, that's why I said there's a distinction between quote, an apostle, which is somebody who saw them, or are we apostles of Christ?

Well, we're gonna, you know, when we get into the next section, it's interesting. Paul's an apostle. And then there are deacons and elders in the local churches. But then in the middle of that is a guy like Timothy. And a guy like Titus, well, what are they?

Because they're not apostles. Disciples? Huh? Disciples? No, because they have a position of authority that's pretty strong above deacons and elders. That's interesting. Because Titus is going to be given instruction by Paul, go out to these churches in Crete and appoint elders and do this and do that, a direct order from Paul himself. Did they have power like the apostles? I don't know. What do you think?

I don't think there's a record of a guy like Apollos or Timothy being able to do what the apostles were extremely powerful men in terms of raise people from the dead, cure stuff, but you don't read that about Titus. You know what's interesting is the guy that got Stephen when he got stoned to death, it said Stephen was doing all kinds of miracles and had incredible powers. And that speech he gave to the Sanhedrin, like you were saying, what are these other guys? Because man, Stephen was an amazing brother.

Yeah. Yeah. There were some that, like these guys, that were involved in the spread of the early church. And they were... authorized, maybe put it that way, by an apostle, Paul, to do certain things for the institution of the church and the growth of the church.

The word apostle is a transliteration, it's not an exact translation. according to Constable. It means the letters of the Greek word, not the meaning of the Greek word are given. The word has an effectual, an official tone to it. To be an apostle, one had to have been called and had to possess credentials proving that calling. And a calling and credentials are the operative words. What are the credentials? The big credential was that they were called directly, personally, face to face by Jesus Christ.

So Paul reminds the Corinthians of the signs of a true apostle were performed among them. with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles. So Paul could really do all kinds of stuff. We'd love to have him around today. No kidding. Hey Russ, you could call him up and say, look, I'm done with these doctors. You want to help out? No kidding. So what was the purpose of Paul's apostleship?

It's being the message to the Gentiles. It says that for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So he's a bondservant, brings God's chosen ones to saving faith in Christ. That's what he's there to do, and that's what all those who serve the Lord, that's where you start. That's where you start, the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Their job, and I think we also have the same job, is to bring the saving knowledge of Christ to people that don't know it, know what it is.

I kind of marvel. I don't know, did you look at the handout I sent out this week? I'll talk about it when I get out there, but all it is is a series of questions that you're going to have to take it home and answer them. But it's designed in Romans 1, 2, and 3. That's the gospel message and the thoroughness of it. And my questions are, can you show me in chapter 3 where grace is manifested, where this is manifested, and that kind of thing?

And the reason I did it that way was because my rhetoric Your rhetoric is not what we're talking about here. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we already have how we're supposed to say it. It's in the word. And that's what we should use. We should use God's word to spread the gospel. It's his gospel and his words. And those are the things that are powerful in my mind. understanding of the words, it's the words themselves. So when you get a chance to look at it, hopefully it'll have that.

Now there's a second part of what the purpose of Paul's apostleship is. What is it? Furthering their knowledge of the truth, education. Close. How about this idea? That everything that you teach is designed to produce godly living. How about that? That not only do you bring the saving knowledge, but that knowledge is to result in godly living. He says, chosen of God, the knowledge of the truth according to godliness. Well, what is godliness?

It's living now. Possible says it this way, developing believers' faith and knowledge was the aim of Paul's apostleship. Verse 1 ends by saying, this is all according to the harmony with the godliness. A chain is forged. Faith and knowledge are to be developed, resulting in godliness. Good doctrine is to manifest itself in good conduct. Cheryl, to use your home as an example, if it really is a Christian place and the people that run it understand good doctrine, you would never have to worry about gay pride. So there's a focus, right, in the very first verse about godliness.

Now, see how based on Romans chapter 1, 2, and 3, What is godliness? Well, maybe ask it this way. What's the criteria for being a candidate for salvation? What do you have to be? Ungodly. That's what you got to be. If you think you're pretty good, or you're moving along the track, you don't understand that God saves the ungodly. He doesn't save those who are thinking they're better than that. So when He saves the ungodly, what's He save them to? He declares them righteous. What is righteousness? It's godliness, isn't it? It's a sum total of God, like His glory, His intrinsic attributes. He says, I'm righteous.

And if you want to be with me, you have to be righteous. And if you believe in me and my work, I will declare you righteous. Or if you believe what I've told you in terms of Abraham, I will declare you righteous. And you will be qualified to be with me. So here comes the gospel message after the Apostle Paul. And what does he say? Well, here's salvation. You believe in the person and work of Christ. Well, what's it result in? It results in a life of godliness.

And we're going to find out going through Titus. Paul is pretty strict about that. You're all looking at me like, You've just laid out, to me, a level we can never reach. I think there's a difference. This verse looks like it's talking about the conditional kind of godliness. And I think what you just described, when we're declared righteous, that's conditional.

Yeah. So I think, you know, one leads to the other. There you go. I think that's right. That's really a good way to put it. One leads to the other. You have to be declared righteous and be righteous in order to live righteously. You've got to get them in the right order.

A lot of my sermon this morning is going to be about how these things don't fit into that. I can't, by going through obeying laws or going through rituals, like being circumcised, I don't become godly by having that done. I don't become godly by being baptized. I'm already declared righteous. Abraham was already righteous when he was circumcised, already.

So it's a faith-based system, not a works-based system. And Paul is saying the same thing about godliness. What we know positionally and believe positionally should translate into a conditional life of, you know, it's like if you, you know, it's what's the old saying, if a quack's like a duck, flies like a duck and walks like a duck, guess what it is? It's a duck.

If I am righteous, and I'm in possession of the Holy Spirit, and all of the things that God's word tells me, how much can people identify me as a righteous person? They should be able to, don't you think? Well, that, I think, having just come out of a year or two of the Holy Spirit that's conforming us to the image of Christ, which is the righteousness would be manifest as we are conformed to Christ.

So you're saying that the conditional part is the Holy Spirit working in us, and by faith we believe it, and it manifests all the truths that are told of us who are in Christ. And so it's the Holy Spirit convincing us, convicting us of all those things. And by faith believing it and spiritual maturity as you grow in Christ and grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ, hopefully your condition starts matching more of your position. But it's by the Holy Spirit and our faith.

Yeah, it's interesting. There are those that will use the by the Holy Spirit as a cop-out not to live Christian while the Spirit hasn't done anything. Oh, yeah, he has. Oh, yeah, he has. So for my lack of living a godly life is the Spirit's fault. I'm trying. I'm willing. No, you're not. Is it a spirit-fostered life, enabled life? Yes, it is.

But notice that he starts with the doulos. What does a doulos do? He does whatever the master says. And he willingly does it. So as a believer goes along and understands and learns and grows, he may have questions of understanding, but he doesn't have questions of pushback. Maybe put it that way. Understand what I mean by that? Thus saith the Lord is OK with me, whatever it is. And even if I don't understand it now, I can go get sidetracked and get a whole bunch of legal rules going.

But the Spirit of God is in charge making me understand grace as opposed to a law system. And that's what one of the greatest passages in all the Bible is in Titus 2, about grace has appeared. And what does it teach me? How to live godly. That's what it teaches us. I like what Constable said, a chain is forged.

Faith and knowledge are to be developed, resulting in godliness. Faith and knowledge. I would have said knowledge and faith, because you've got to know what you believe first. Knowledge and faith are to be developed, resulting in godliness. And good doctrine is to manifest itself in good conduct. All right. Any questions about that one? This one was kind of interesting, I thought.

What do the terms Jesus and Christ mean? I could have phrased that question probably better. But the interchange of terms referring to God and Christ, when Paul uses the term Christ, what is he saying? Make it easier. What is he saying about this man, Jesus? He's saying that he's deity. And he's the Messiah, of course. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, he was God in human flesh, right? Yeah. He's also called the Savior in Luke 1, 47, and in 1 Timothy and others. But when the expression Christ Jesus is used, the emphasis is on his messiahship, not his humanity. This is kind of interesting. I've read this and several guys talk about this. What's the difference between the phrase Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ? Is there a difference? Well, the way Paul writes, there is a difference.

If he's using Christ Jesus, it has to do with the emphasis is on his messiahship, not his humanity. When he uses the term Jesus Christ, it is used, the emphasis is on his humanity. But you're going to have to go ferret that out yourself. Jesus Christ is used only three or four times in this letter. All that a believer hopes for is so inseparably linked to Christ that our relationship to him also involves our relationship to a hope that's involved. In other words, Jesus, you could always say that Jesus the Christ But when you use the term Jesus Christ, it does refer to his humanity in the context, you'll see. When he refers to Christ Jesus, the emphasis is on his messiahship or his messiahship's good enough. So in verse one, And we've been two weeks on verse one, which is okay.

Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So my question, is, what do you think is Paul's main concern here? I mean, you talk about a verse that's full of words and phrases and pronouncements.

I feel like it's the knowledge of the truth, which results in a number of things, but there's a reason that he is in the position that he's in, and it's for others, for a purpose. And that purpose is the knowledge of truth. And it leads to other things, which is both godliness and hope, et cetera. But yeah, that's my answer. I think the knowledge of the truth, he says, which is according to godliness. I think the focus is godliness. Or faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So I think godliness is the focus.

His major concern, as we're going to see in this letter, is to focus on how believers are to function in a godly manner. Put it another way, God intended that both prongs of Paul's ministry, one is evangelism and edification, which is knowledge, to bring individuals into fullness of eternal life. That's what it's really about. Don't you think that almost everything that God does is godly living? Isn't that the end game?

When the Lord Jesus tells the disciples in Luke, he says, you be holy as I am holy. Oh, really? Yeah. I think that goes back to what I was saying, it's conformity to Christ. That is the ultimate which results in righteousness and godliness and all that. That's right.

The purpose is through intimacy with Christ, the knowledge of Him. You become conformed to him or you the object of your faith is before you and that's who you are Right. So I think I think it still comes down to the conformity or have that mind of christ We're told that mind we have the mind of christ and and to be conformed to the image. That is the Or godliness will be Exemplified or manifested. I agree through through that conformity. Yeah I like the fact that he's focusing on all of those elements that we study and know have an endgame purpose, and the purpose is godly living.

Now, whenever you hear somebody say, well, you know, we need to live like Christ, right away the alarm goes off if you know anything about grace, because the first question is, well, how do you do that? Well, that's what the information the biblical information, the teaching of the truth, shows us how it's done. Through the work of the Spirit, my role is to believe. Go study Abraham.

He's such a great example. He's the most godless guy at first. After he's declared righteous, he's the most godless guy around. But at the end of the day, He is so godly that he would sacrifice his son because he knew God was the giver of life. And his son was the promise of everything that God said, I'm going to do in you. And God says, sacrifice him.

I think there's a difference, too, I think. conformity and copying. You know, it's... Remember the... Imitation. WWJD, what would Jesus do? And, you know, copying is not the same as conformity. Oh, I know. And I think there's a gulf of difference between the two. And the conformity is through knowledge and knowing who Christ is versus trying to copy behavior. Yeah, we had a great discussion on Wednesday night with the verse, be imitators of me as I am of Christ.

Right away, my mind says, copy. Put it in the machine, push the buttons. Yeah, there we go. And could you say there that copy is full man? That's the way the old, I mean, you could be sure that that's fleshly thinking when you think that way. Copy, huh? It's like, tell me what to do and I'll do it. But I think the old man likes to imitate. Oh, sure he does. Sure he does. The best example is Nikolai Jokic. Within five years, every center will be playing like he plays, because he's so different and so good. Okay, we gotta let the singers get singing. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you again for your word. We thank you that you've provided it so that we can grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear son, the Lord Jesus, which results in a life of godliness. And we know as your bond servants that we desire what you desire, which is to glorify you, and that's how it's done. So we thank you, Father. We pray in your son's name, amen.