A Political Sermon

 In 1994, the Pew Researcher Center found that about 64% of Republicans identified as consistently conservative. In 2004, that number grew to 70%. In 2014 it grew again to 92%. During the same period of time, 70% of Democrats identified as consistently liberal in 1994. In 2004 it was 68%, and in 2014 it was 94%. The divide in the US between those who are consistently liberal and consistently conservative in their politics has widen to the point that there is very little common ground between the two. And it shows the big picture as to why the political arena feels like it cannot be fixed. Take a look at the Pew Research Center’s animation that shows how drastic this shift is (https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/feature/political-polarization-1994-2017/). 

This shifting is what the world does. When there is no solid foundation on which to move forward, reaction to desire is all that’s left. When one group wants secure boarders, because they say it allows criminals to walk into the country, and the other group wants open boarders because they believe boarders are restrictive to a global community, both desires conflict and turmoil ensues. James 1:14-15 says it this way, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” This is what we are seeing in our society. Desire is luring us into temptation and temptation is then bringing forth sin and death. Isaiah 24:20 speaks of the world as, “The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.” The world is swaying back and forth into sin, it’s what it does. Why? Because it doesn’t have a firm foundation.

However, as Christians we are not to be swayed like the world, but rather hold firm to Jesus. Jesus said it this way in Luke 6:47-49, “47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Paul wrote this in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Where the world is swayed by desire, led into temptation and thereby experiencing death, we as Christians are to firm ourselves on Christ and his word. Conforming to it and nothing else. 

Before I accepted Jesus, I held to many views that I no longer do. I did not change these views because I was persuaded by intellectual, political, or ideological arguments. My views have changed because the more I read God’s word, the more the Holy Spirit moves in me, the more I conform my life to what he says, the more my views change to be aligned with God’s. 

This brings us to the first point we must understand, if we say we have accepted Jesus as Savior, if we say we are Christians, then our lives are his. 

Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Isaiah would write it like this his 45th chapter, verse 9, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”

Paul picks up this idea in Romans 9:20-21, “20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”

We do not get to decide by wants or desire, or by comfort, how we vote. We have to vote inline with God’s will, because he is the Potter, the Master, the Author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Everything we are is his, that includes our voting.

Secondly, if you haven’t noticed yet, we’re going to rely heavily on what the Scriptures say, because it is the plumb line, or the rule for our lives. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:18-19, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

When Paul writes to Timothy he writes this, “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (1 Timothy, 3:16-17)”

God’s word is the first and last authority as to where we stand on political issues. Our allegiance doesn’t stand with a party, or a person. Our allegiance doesn’t even stand on our own preferences and desires. It stands with God and his word. If we’re not doing that, we’re in rebellion against God and not walking in his light.

This brings us to the call of walking in God’s light. 1st John 1:5-7 reads, “5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

We are to walk in God’s light, and as Paul states in Galatians 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

So if we want to walk in God’s light, and keep in step with the Spirit’s leading, what does that look like?

To the prophet Micah, as Israel was doing all sorts of horrible things in God’s sight, God said this, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)”

To walk in God’s light is to act justly, to seek kindness, and to be humble in how we deal with people. 

With all this in mind, now, we have two options when talking about politics. Either we engage, or disengage; we are to either to vote or not vote. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer of John 17, he says this in verse 15, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

Paul says it like this in 1st Corinthians 5:9-10, “9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.”

God doesn’t want us out of the world, he wants us to be godly in the world. So we cannot disengage from the politics, we must stand for biblical principles and vote. So Christian, if you’re not voting because you feel like you shouldn’t engage, you are missing an opportunity to stand for Christ. How great an honor, when throughout the first 1,800 years of Church history our brothers and sisters never had the opportunity to stand on biblical principles in such a way. What would they say to us now, who can voice God’s will into the choosing of those who represent us?

So now that we know we’re not ours but God’s, and we know that it’s on his word that we base everything on, and we know that we are to walk in God’s light, and we know that we are to engage in voting to bring about godly work, we must understand what the goal in our voting should be. Are we to make America great? Or is there something else?

Let’s see what Jesus’ focus was. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’ first words are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (1:15)”

In John 15:19, Jesus tells the disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commissions the disciples, “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

When asked a political question about Pilate killing some Galileans in Luke 13, Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (13:2-3)”

Jesus’ focus is the Kingdom of God, everything is submissive to that focus. When talking about politics our first question should be, is how I’m voting submissive to the goal of kingdom purpose? We’ll get into more of that when we talk about applying these principles. But for now, the kingdom is Jesus’ focus, so it is to be our focus as well.

So now we know we’re not our own, we know God’s word is the basis for our politics, we know we are to walk in his light, and that we are to engage in the political realm with our focus being kingdom advancement Now let’s do some application.

Now just a head’s up, we’re not covering every political issue, but giving general principles in which to apply what we know.

And as we do, we have to recognize just how blessed we are even to get a vote. When Jesus sent out the disciples into the world, the vast majority of them had no rights. They weren’t citizens of the Roman Empire and so had very little in the way of political engagement. This is why Peter writes, “13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. 18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:13-21).”

The Church was birthed and thrived in a culture of oppression, cruelty and under a dictatorship. So we are blessed even to be able to voice biblical principles through our vote.

Secondly, we need to understand the role of government as God ordains it. From Peter’s writing, we can already tell one role is to punish those who do evil. This is important when we go to vote, and we’re looking at candidates who do or do not seek to punish evil.

Then there’s what Paul writes in Romans 13:1-7, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

From this passage we can glean a couple of things in regard to the government’s role. The government “bears the sword” in verse 4. That means it’s the governments job to protect it citizens, from outside threats and inside threats. We can also see that governments job is to work for the good on behalf of all people not just a selection of them. The Final role, is the one we all would not desire, but it is the right of the government to impose taxes.

In seeing these things, our vote would be cast in such a way that it supports those representatives who would best bring about justice and protection for the citizenry. Coupling this with a kingdom focus, we are to be utilizing our vote to support representatives who would best allow us to live out our Christian mandate to share Jesus with the world. 

In application we should do something like this: Ask the question, “What political parties are there?” The big two are the Democratic and Republican parties. The other three that are recognized in at least ten states are the Libertarian party, Green Party and the Constitution Party. Out of these five, four are on the ballot in Arizona.

Step 1: What do these parties say they believe? That means we need to look at their stated platforms. We need to look at each party and see if they hold to biblical principles or not. I printed off these five political parties’ platforms. We need to see which one seeks to bring the most justice to our society, and who would allow Christians the most freedom to share Jesus.

Hear what I’m not saying: I am not saying to vote for Harris, Oliver, Stein, Terry, or Trump. I am saying to vote with biblical focus. However, I will say this, as I have read through the platforms of the Constitution, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican parties, the closet help to the Christian lands primarily in the Constitution party, with the Republicans being second. Whereas the Democratic, Green, and Libertarian parties have some major beaks with biblical principles. But you must do your godly duty and research these things for yourself. With a Bible in one hand and the platforms in the other. Praying to God, what principles do these parties have and do not have?

Step 2: While in office, how have these platforms performed? I’m going to give you one example, because if I went through every issue, we’d be late into the night. So let’s look at the government’s job to bring about justice. 

This becomes tricky because in the last few years, crime reporting procedures have changed. There are about 18,917 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. In 2022 44% fully participated in reporting their crime date; these were mostly in more rural areas. 24% of agencies submitted some of their data; these ranged from all types of areas. 32% of agencies did not submit any data; these were primarily metropolitan areas like Phoenix PD, LAPD, and New York PD (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/07/13/fbi-crime-rates-data-gap-nibrs).

Because of this we don’t know how we’re doing. The last thing we truly know is that crimes like homicides skyrocketed by 30% in 2020, then rose again in 2021 by 7%; dropped by 6% by 2022. And then dropped by 13%. Giving a net positive of 18% increase in murders across our nation since 2020 (https://counciloncj.org/crime-trends-in-u-s-cities-mid-year-2024-update/#:~:text=By the end of 2020,%, from 2022 to 2023) 

But since about 1/3 of law enforcement isn’t giving any data on crimes, the drop is most likely happening because so many agencies are not reporting the statistics, instead of the crime rate actually going. 

Another wrinkle in this is that, in 2022 Police clearance rates, or how many crimes police agencies officially closed, overall has deceased (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/). 

For more egregious crimes: closing murder cases are down 9.8%, aggravated assaults are down 16.3%, and closing of rape cases are down 14.5%. And that’s just from those agencies that are reporting, what about those who don’t?

In just this area of justice, we have to ask, who are representatives that are in charge of those agencies who are not reporting, and are the policies of their platforms leading to these issues?

This process of taking time and looking at statics, finding out who are those behind the policies and then seeing if biblical principles are being implemented or not. This is time consuming and frustrating. Yet, as Christians we must be diligent in this, because if our representatives are not acting in ways that bring about the most justice, then we are complacent in propping up injustices. This will be an issue that we have to report on to God on judgment day. For God said to the Israelites through the prophet Ezekiel, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’10 As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads. (Ezekiel 9:9-10)” And God said later to the same prophet, “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. (Ezekiel 33:18)”

Injustice whether to the poor or to the rich, whether to the citizen or the alien, is something that God stands heavily against, and will not let go unpunished. 

Every issue, every platform position has to be taken before the Lord and his word. We must cast our vote to the candidate who best seeks justice to happen, and will maximize our ability to share the Gospel. To not cast our vote is to take away godly light to government. An opportunity that few Christians throughout the history of the Church have ever had the ability to do. 

Finally, if you haven’t been upset yet, let’s make sure you are now. Voting is one aspect in living under government. We can cast our vote as God leads us, and once it is cast, we must then live under the repercussions of not just our vote, but other’s as well. And this is where it gets difficult. 

Again, I’m going to give you one example, the boarder situation. It is true that a highly regulated boarder brings in less people and less drugs (https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2024/0416/biden-trump-immigration-border-crossings). Since we have the ability to see who’s border policies let in more or less people, we can see that under Trump, there were less boarder encounters than under Biden. Either way, what is the job of the Christian after whoever gets into office when faced with some who is here illegally. 

We have two options, to turn them, which would be a lawful thing to do. After all, we are called to follow the laws of the land. And we have passages like Deuteronomy 28:43-44 which reads, “43 The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. 44 He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.” And we could apply this to an illegal alien coming into the country. Yet this passage is the result of Israel not following God. In the context, God states in verse 15, “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.” Within the context of Israel’s covenant relationship with God, if they failed to follow him, then they would be overrun by those who were not a part of the covenant. One could make a case that when we, who made a covenant with God through our declaration of Independence, do not follow biblical principles on which our nation was founded, then any problems we face can be traced back to breaking that covenantal decree. 

But let’e make this issue a little more muddled. Earlier in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 10:17-20, God tells the Israelites, “17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.” So to the same sojourner that might overtake Israel, the Israelites are to give him food, and clothing. What implication does that have on us as Christians, who’s first loyalty is to God? 

These are the harder issues. What if my government isn’t doing it’s job? It’s not holding up justice, it’s not allowing Christinas the freedom to speak the Gospel. What shall we do now? We live in accordance with Christ. We follow him. We seek justice in the spheres of influence we have. We cast our vote of the candidate, not necessarily the one who is the perfect godly one, because God can use pagan kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Darius to do his will. No, we cast our vote for the ones that bring about the greatest justice, and the most opportunity for the Christian message to be able to be shared. 

We take every issue, before the Lord and ask him, what he wants and we conform to his will. Then we look at the candidate and say, which one of you will best allow for the will of God to be done in this country, and we cast our vote in that direction. To not do so, is to relinquish our light to those who seek injustice.

But no matter the outcome, our citizenship is in heaven, and so we live out heavenly intentions now. 

Now, my challenge for you is this: stop what you’re doing in the political realm for a moment. Go before God and be open to his leading. Every thought you have of who is right for the job, who is the best, what the media says, all of it bring before the Lord and drop at his feet. Then humbly request his will in the matter. Take up the platforms of at least the two major parties and walk through them with then intention of asking, is this biblical or not? The closest to the biblical truth is where your vote should be cast.

That means you might not like the candidate, and think their a jerk, but your vote isn’t about one person, it’s about the cause of Christ. Will the message of the Gospel be more freely proclaimed, is the central question each of us should be asking. Because we’re not here to build America, we’re here to build the Kingdom. Anything else, is Satan’s work to shift our focus from King Jesus.

And if you were offended at any point today, that wasn’t my intention, but each of us needs to get our eyes off of the things of this world, because none of it will save us. Instead, we need our eyes on Jesus because he alone saves. Because at the ballot box there’s only one animal that we should be checking off, and that’s the Lamb. Amen.

Titus Week 4: Founded, Empowered, Devoted

  Ever have a smell that brought back a memory? The smell of rain that brings back a camping trip? Or the smell of apple pie, that brought back a spring picnic. A perfume or cologne that brought back a loved one. How many smells do you think humans can detect? Supposedly, those who make fragrances suggest that there are between 10,000-30,000 different fragrances that we can pick up on. Yet not all of them bring back memories. Why? Because its those things that we are devoted to that connect us. We remember the smells because we are intimately connected to them through the circumstances we’ve experienced. So when we smell a familiar scent, that devotion is triggered and the memory comes flooding back. 

It’s this idea of devotion that brings us back to our final week in the letter to Titus, where we’l be picking it back up in chapter 3, verse 1. As we pick back up in Titus 3:1, let’s look at the last three weeks. 

In our first week, we take about how Titus was sent to Crete for a specific role and purpose to raise up elders in the local congregations. By having good elders to lead the local congregations, a greater experience of God’s grace and peace would happen, because good leadership leads people into the goodness of God. We walked away from that week with the understanding that, every Christian needs to understand their role and purpose within the congregation that they’re apart of for the purpose of experiencing more of God’s grace and peace.

Following that, when we looked at the qualifications of an elder. What we saw was a call to godliness that we are all to strive for. Even if we are never called to the position of elder, each and everyone of us should be striving for the godly character of an elder. 

The reason for this is because God has empowered us through the Holy Spirit to produce and display this goodness in what ever role or position he calls us into. If we are not striving to produce the fruits of the Spirit, then God won’t use us for the greater purpose he has, and we will not experience his grace and peace as he intended us to.

With that call to strive for godly character in whatever role we are called to, that we might produce the fruit of the Spirit, in our mind, we can open up to the last chapter of Titus. Let’s read together. 

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. 9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus (tick-a-kiss) to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Next week were going to talk about politics and I don’t think anyone’s going to leave the worship service happy. But everything that will be said next week, means nothing if we don’t first understand what Paul is telling Titus in this chapter. There is one point that Paul is getting at in this last chapter and that’s preparedness for good work. Three times Paul uses those two words, “good works.” Paul says in verse 1 to be ready for good works, and in verses 8 and 14, he says to be devoted to good works. The end goal of what Paul is talking about here is that we would be a people of good works in the world. So let’s walk through Paul’s thought process, knowing that his intention is to get us to produce good works.

v.1-11

Paul starts off with what we should do. We should, be submissive to rulers and authorities. That word means to put yourself under the subjection of the rulers. That means to yield one’s rights rather than asserting them. Oh boy, that’s going to be a fun one next week to talk about. Not only are we called to this type of yielding, but we are to be obedient, which is to conform to authority. Are we upset yet? Wait until next week. We are called to not speak evil of anyone, and to avoid quarreling. 

Instead we are to be gentle with people and we are to show perfect courtesy to them. That word courtesy is humility; we are to be humble before all people. 

Why? Because of what we were. We were foolish, we were disobedient, we were led astray, we were slaves of passions and pleasures, we were living daily in malice and envy, we lived hating and be hated by others.

But something changed. Christ appeared! Jesus saved us, not because of our righteousness. If we were righteousness we would be submissive and obedient, we would have shown gentleness and humility with people. We wouldn’t have been led astray. We wouldn’t have been slaves to passions and pleasures. We wouldn’t have lived in malice and envy and hatred.  But we weren’t righteous and we know it, so Jesus had to appear, he had to save us, but he saved us because of his mercy not because of our goodness. 

Now notice that everything is past tense. When Jesus appeared, that word means shined upon us, when we accepted Jesus as Savior, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. That’s what he did. That’s why Paul can declare back in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” If you’ve accepted Jesus as Savior, you are a new creation, your old self is gone. That’s what happened when you accept Jesus as your Savior. You are no longer the person you were, you have been regenerated and renewed. At that moment, you gained the riches of the Holy Spirit who now works and lives within you. You were justified by God’s grace with your sins being blotted out of eternity. You became an heir to the hope of eternal life. That’s who you are, so why live in such a way that says other wise? Why live in disobedience? Why live in speaking evil? Why live in quarreling? Why live in harshness? Why live for selfishness? Why live being led astray? Why live as slaves of passions and pleasures? Why live in daily malice, envy and hatred? You are new, you are free, you are an heir to the riches of God.

We are called out of the oldness of sin and into the newness of Jesus’ righteousness. We are called into being devoted to good works because those are the things that are excellent and profitable. God wants us to live in his excellent abundant life (John 10:10). He wants our lives to be profitable in goodness. That’s who we are in Jesus, anything else is marring the great work that has been done for us. 

In July of 2024, USA TODAY did a survey of what people would do if they won the lottery. Sharing some portion of the winnings with family, friends and charities came in at about 14% (https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/banking/how-americans-would-spend-lottery-winnings/#:~:text=Nearly two-thirds of Americans,vacation or a fancy car.). 

Which would be the third most important thing after paying off debts and investing. When people tend to talk about “winning it big,” there’s usually talk about helping other people. Well, as Christians we have won big! 

Lottery’s only last a little bit, with USA TODAY running a separate article showing that 1/3 of lottery winners go bankrupt within the first five years (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/19/powerball-mega-millions-winners-instant-billionaire-regrets/70430571007/). 

However, our salvation lasts for eternity, so if we have won it big, why are we living the same way we lived before? Why are we not living to be devoted to the good works Jesus saved us to live? 

Now we might wonder how we can we begin to live that way. How can we live to be devoted to the good works of Jesus. First off, we need to remember that Jesus saved us by his righteousness, so we’re working from that jumping off point. Everything we do is from his righteousness, not our own. Secondly, we’re working by the richness of the Holy Spirit. Meaning, we’re not working from our power, but through relying on the Holy Spirit to work through us. So if our thought isn’t “Holy Spirit work here,” then we’re trying good works in our own strength, which will fail every time. 

Once we understand were we come from and how we’re empowered, we can then see what Paul says in verse 9. We devote ourselves to good works by avoiding foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. There’s a lot of things that are foolish controversies. There’s a lot of foolish talk about ancestry and past hurts. There’s a lot of places where dissension happens and the fights break out. And that’s just in the Church. How much more is it outside where sin isn’t checked in anyway. If the Church wrestles with sin because it desires to be separate from it and yet still experiences quarrels, dissension and controversies, what are we to expect from a world that is lost? That’s why we are called to devote ourselves to good works, because if we’re not devoted, we’ll quickly fall into temptation’s trap of engaging in these worthless things. 

And that’s what Paul calls them, they are unprofitable and worthless. Controversies, fights about the past, dissensions, and quarrels bring no profit to the life of the believer, because those are old self things, not new creation things. 

And so Paul talks about that if a person tries to bring division, give them two chances and then no longer engage with them, because it’s not worth it for the devotion to good works.

v.12-15

Paul ends his letter, as he ends most of them. Talking about people, and plans he has or wants to happen. But he inserts his call to the devotion of good works one more time. However this time, he gives one last reason to why we should be devoted. When we’re devoted, we’re able to respond to urgent case because we are not tied down in unfruitful issues. 

We again honored 9/11 this week. An attack that was seemingly out of the blue. Recently on Friday nights, Marika and I have been watching a 1990s cartoon show with Navi, our youngest daughter. In one of the first episodes, a New York detective is showing the city off to her new friend who has been asleep for a 1,000 years. He observes that there are no walls around their city, like the walls around his castle. The detective then tells him, it’s because our enemies are within, and then it pans across the New York skyline and there in the background are the twin towers. 

In that moment you can look back in time and see that we were a country who wasn’t ready for the urgency that was ahead. 

When were dealing with other issues that produce no fruit, we were not prepared for the unknown problems that mattered. We were blind side because we were so caught up in other less important matters. 

It’s the same thing in our own lives. When we’re messing around with issues that blind us to those things that are urgent, we get blindside. However, if we are devoted to good works, avoiding the things that don’t bring about good fruit, we will be ready to respond in goodness when the urgent comes.

We will face these urgent events through the righteousness of Jesus, while being empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we will overcome them with the goodness of God, leaving the event stronger in our faith. 

God is calling us to the life he saved us to live. A life founded on the righteousness of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and devoted to the good works that he is doing. Anything less than that, is a life that is holding on to the old self, a self that is decaying away. Instead, let us rely on the Holy Spirit to bring us further into the goodness of God, that we may begin to experience the riches of eternal life in the time we have on this moral existence.

My challenge for you is to prepare for next week’s sermon on politics. Walk back through this passage, taking the unprofitable things that we are to avoid, and seeing how those things are in the political realm right now. What is God calling me away from in how I approach the political landscape, that I might live more in his goodness.

Let us be a people who are devoted to good works, that the people around us might see those works and praise our Heavenly Father. Amen.

Titus Week 3: Position To Produce

  Anyone know what a position player is? In sports it’s simply a player that plays a specific position to fulfill specific needs on a team. Every position is at least slightly different than every other position. In baseball you have eight positions players. The catcher is the general of the field; they can see all and they call plays. First baseman has a small range of area to field, as their primary role is to field infield balls from other positions at their base. The second baseman’s play the area ranges from behind second base over to the out of bounds fence and from inner outfield to the inner infield. The Shortstop plays opposite of the second baseman covering his mirrored side. Third baseman is much like the first baseman, but usually with a stronger arm and willing to take a hard hit. Left and right field mirror each other in area to cover, while centerfield’s job is to cover half of left and right field as well. Each of these players are then to also bat in a specific position in the lineup as the manager sees fit for their ability. The pitcher, though sometimes he hits, is not necessarily considered a position player and their DH, or designated hitter, is also not considered a position player. This is similar in hockey where the goalie is not considered a position player.

Each of these positions carry with it specific needs to fulfill so that the whole team benefits. 

And its this idea of fulling our positions to benefit the whole, that brings us back to our summer series as we walk through Paul’s letter to Titus, where we’ll be picking it back up in chapter 2 verse 1. And as we open up to Titus 2:1, let’s look back on the last two weeks. 

In our first week, we talked about the purpose of Paul’s writing and how Paul is calling Titus to his role and purpose of raising up elders so that God’s grace and peace can be experienced by the local church. This is something all believers must learn. We all must learn our God given role and purpose in his Church. When we do, we give room for God’s grace and peace to happen, because we’re experiencing for ourselves that grace and peace. 

Following that, last week we started to get into the nitty gritty of Titus’ call to raise up elders. We were given a list of qualifications of what an elder should be. In those qualifications there was the family side, the personal character side, and the protecting the flock side. In the family side, an elder was to lead his family in godliness. In the personal side, he needed a consistent godly character that was moving closer to Christ. Finally, in the protecting the flock side, an elder was to make sure that the believers God had given them to oversee, were being protected from people who would distort the core of the Gospel. When looking at all of these qualifications, though some people were called to the role of elder, each and every believer is to strive to meet these qualifications. That’s because an elder is supposed to be a maturing Christian, and that is God’s goal for all of us. That is made even clearer in the next chapter of Titus. 

So let’s read together Titus chapter 2 verses 1-15.

1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Paul writes to Titus about five groups of people: Older men, Older women, younger men, younger women and bondservants. Notice that though Paul’s intention is for Titus to raise up elders, good elders are not all a church needs. Each and every believer has their own role and purpose. It’s almost as if everyone should be striving for the qualities of godliness.

v. 1-10

Each one of these has their own focus and some overlap. Older men are to be sober-minded, meaning they should be in their right mind, meaning they shouldn’t be drunk. Why, because they should be dignified, and self-controlled. You can’t be either if you’re not sober. But older men should also be sound in their faith, meaning they should be rock solid in what they believer about God. But older men should also love people, meaning they are graceful with others. They also should be steadfast, meaning they are to endure the hard things of life. 

Older women are to be similar. Reverent behavior is the same as being dignified and self-controlled. Not being a slave to wine is the same as being sober-minded, and if you are reverent in behavior, then you won’t be a slander. Instead, older women are to be teachers of what’s good, this is means by word an action they are showing what goodness or what nobleness and being honorable looks like. In addition, they are to train young women, which means they are to help young women realize their own need for self-control. In this case, how to love their husbands, how to deal with children, out to live a pure and self-controlled life, how to keep the home in order, how to be kind, and how to be submissive, which means to follow their husband in a godly way. 

Young men are to be self-controlled, but here Paul tells Titus to be a model of what that means. Titus is to model good works, he is to teach integrity, dignity, and healthy speech. 

Finally, Paul addresses bondservants who are also supposed to be self-controlled, they are to please their masters, and not argue or steal from them, but instead be good or pleasant in how they respond to their master. 

All of these attributes that Paul is talking about, are attributes that all believers are called to. Paul had written to the Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control … (Galatians 5:22-23)” The things that Paul is telling Titus to communicate to others are the very things that God is calling all of us to do. How these fruit of the Spirit are carried out will depend on who we are, old or young, and what are roles we may have, leaders of households, house-keepers, bondservants.  But no matter where we find ourselves, we should be striving for the work of God in us and through us, that we might produce the fruit that God has saved us to show. 

v.11-15

And we can and should do this, because God gives us the grace to do so. It’s through Jesus’ work on the cross that we are called out of our uncontrolled lives. It’s because of Jesus’ sacrifice that we are called out of hatred, out of misery, out of turmoil, out of agitation, out of rudeness, out of evil, out of disobedience, and out of harshness. We are called to a greater work, a godly work that is achieved through Jesus and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. God is purifying us, and setting us aside from the world, to show us greater peace and grace, because he desires goodness to flow out of us.

So we must strive to submit to the Holy Spirit’s work, and take seriously the call to bear the fruit of the Spirit. 

It does’t matter what position we are called to, God is calling each and everyone of us to display the goodness that flows from the person of God to the people of God. Though there are different positions for baseball players, they should all know how to throw the and catch the ball. They are to know the game and the situations they find themselves. If there’s a runner on first base, the infielders are thinking a double play, but the outfielders are thinking “catch the ball, and get it in because the runner might tag up.” Though they play different roles, they are striving to utilize their common skills in their role, for the betterment of the team. We are called to strive for the fruit of the Spirit and to fulfill our role and position in a God honoring way.

So my challenge for you this week, is to look at the group you most closely identify with and see what area God wants to work on you in. If you’re an older guy, are you sober-minded, are you dignified, are you self-controlled, are you sound in faith, are you loving, and enduring? Older women can it be said of you that you are reverent in your behavior, are you teaching goodness, have you ever tried to help a young woman in their life? Young women, if you have a husband or kids are you loving them? Are you self-controlled, working in purity and kindness? Young men, are you doing good works, are you showing integrity, and dignity and being self-controlled? We don’t have bondservants in our society, but if you have a job, are you self-controlled at work, are you seeking to please your boss, not arguing with them or stealing from them, are you known to be a pleasant person at your job?

God is calling all of us to not merely say we follow Jesus, but to produce the fruit of that following. We’re all going to stumble and falter, but that should drive us to a greater reliance on God and seeking his forgiveness and his empowerment. God desires that we would be a people who experience his grace and peace, so lets put ourselves into position to receive it. That God would be given the glory through our lives. Amen.