Wednesday, May 21, 2025 PM

Don't freak out.

It's going to be OK.

Yeah, the rectangles aren't rectangular enough.

OK.

Thanks, Joe.

The Structure of Titus 3 and the Foundation of Good Works

So we have been slowly working our way through the first eight verses of Titus chapter 3. And last week, we finished up verses 1 and 2. And before we pick back up with verse 3 tonight, I thought maybe we could step back for a second and look at the bigger picture of the whole passage and look at the structure of it a little bit.

Because I think it will help us to see the heart of the passage and also one of the major themes of the book of Titus as a whole. So I'd like to start off with a little quiz, OK? It's going to be open book.

It's open, neighbor.

So don't worry.

But if you remember way, way back when we started this study in Titus, Michael gave us a really good summary of the book. And if I'm remembering right, it was something to the effect of the book of Titus is answering the question, what makes for a good church?

What makes for a good church? And there were four ingredients, so to speak. So that's the quiz. What were the four ingredients that make for a good church according to Paul in the book of Titus? And Michael's going to hold off for a minute.

Or maybe he's like, you're butchering my lesson.

That's not what I said.

Some of them are on the board. OK, so good deeds, good doctrine, and good direction. OK, so then the fourth one, that's the bonus question,.

I guess.

Do you remember?

No?

No, the fourth one kind of ties them all together. Do you remember, Michael?

Yeah, yeah.

So we have good direction, good doctrine, good deeds, and all of these working together in a good dynamic. So we have good direction, that's the leadership of capable and caring elders that are teaching and instructing in good doctrine.

And they're bringing out the whole counsel of the word of God to build up his saints. And then you have the good deeds that are fitting and proper for good doctrine. And then all of these things working together in a good dynamic.

So what I want to look at for just a minute is how that overlays on our passage in Titus 3. And so to help us with that, I have some handy dandy graphs. Some of you are like, yay, and some are like, ooh.

So I have some graphs up here. So the first thing that you'll probably notice is that there's a duplicate. And that's because as we read through the book of Titus, we get to chapter 2, and we see a very definite structure to it.

And then that gets repeated in our passage in Titus 3. So I'll just point out that this structure, it's pretty overt. It's not like you really have to see it through a bunch of inference or go digging and find obscure connections.

It's pretty much on the surface. So the second thing you'll probably notice is that in these two passages, they're both bookended by these big brackets. And these brackets represent things that Paul told to Titus.

And I think these are things that we can easily and safely extrapolate out as directives to all elders at all times. So at the beginning of chapter 2 and in verse 1, chapter 2, he says to speak those things that are proper for sound doctrine.

And then at the end of chapter 2, he says to speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. And then at the beginning of chapter 3, he says, remind them. Remind the Cretans. Remind those who are in your care.

And then in verse 8, he says, I want you to be constantly affirming these things. So I want you to be teaching these and bringing these things up over and over again until they take root in the hearts of the saints, until the fullness of Christ is formed in all of his people,.

So to speak.

So then as we get into the passages, in both of these passages, we immediately come to discourses on godly behavior. And that's in different contexts in the home, in the church, and in society in general.

OK, and we can just summarize that as good deeds. I'm just going to call them good deeds. So he talks about good deeds for a little bit. He talks about Christian behavior, how we are to live. And then when he gets to the end of the section on good deeds, right in between here, we hit this little really important three-letter word that indicates a transition in the passage and a relationship in the passage.

So does anybody know what that three-letter word is?

Four.

No, it's not so, Kurt.

S-O-O?

No.

It's four, right? F-O-R. Four. Or because. And what it indicates is that what comes after is the basis or the foundation or the reason for the things that went just before it. And so right after this four, in both passages, we see doctrinal statements.

And particularly, we see statements pertaining to the person and work of Christ. So these are gospel doctrines, gospel truths that form the basis for the good works that he spoke about prior. So just real quick, let me jump back out to these brackets.

So the reason I drew them like this, big and encompassing the whole thing, is just to indicate that all of the teaching and the instruction that's going on here to magnify Christ and to build up the saints, to edify the body, and then all of the life and the activity of the church that resounds to Christ's praise and his worship, all of this falls under the careful eyes or within the careful watching of the overseers or the elders.

But tonight, what I'm more concerned with are these parts that are inside of the brackets, and particularly this relationship between good deeds and good works. So the main takeaway from the lesson tonight, I'm just going to give it to you for free.

The main thing I want to remind you of, because you all already know this, is that ethics must follow theology. Our ethics come out of our theology, or good works stand on or flow out of sound doctrine.

OK?

So this is important, because if you reverse the order, if you take the good deeds and you put them at the foundation level, and then you start to build doctrines on top of them, you're going to be doing things like talking about justification by works, and sanctification through works, or glorification according to your works.

And you've flipped the gospel upside down on its head. And what you're left with is no gospel at all, but just the heavy weight and the burden of work and law. OK, so I'm going to sum it up one more time in just a slightly different way by saying that good works are the fruit of salvation, not the root of salvation.

And I didn't come up with that. You've probably heard that before. So now, let's go back and look at verse 3 in Titus 3, with this kind of in the forefront of our minds, OK? So this is the structure that we're working with.

And I'm going to go ahead and start in verse 1, and I'm going to read through verse 4 and a little bit of verse 5. So starting in verse 1, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, and showing all humility to all men.

So those are the good deeds, the good works that we talked about. OK, then we hit the for, right? That because. Now, he's laying the foundational part. And it's a compound foundation here in chapter 3.

OK, see how there's two parts to it? It's a compound foundation made up of two contrasting but parallel thoughts. So why should we show humility to all men? Well, because we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

But here's another really important three-letter word, and it's indicating a contrast here. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior appeared toward man, he saved us. OK, and so I'm leaving off a good chunk of verses 5 through 7, but they are summed up, actually 4 through 7 is summed up by he saved us.

So here's the contrast that forms the foundation for our good works. So we were dead in our trespasses and sins. That's verse 3. We were completely lost. We were without standing before a holy God, with no one to stand in the gap for us.

And we were without hope in this world. But then something happened, verse 4. The sovereign kindness and love of God broke onto the scene, taking on flesh and dwelling among us. And that appearing, it inaugurated a salvation unlike anything that the world has ever seen, right?

Going beyond a mere liberation from difficult circumstances or even slavery to various geopolitical forces to a breaking of spiritual chains, the chains of sin and death. We have freedom from Satan himself and from my own hate-filled heart and from idolatry and perversions and freedom from every self-destructive rebellion of the fallen condition.

Jesus Christ, the incarnate love of God, the incarnate kindness of God, the incarnate grace, mercy, and righteousness of God saved us. He saved us. But God, right? It makes me think of Ephesians 2, right?

We were children of wrath just like all the others, but God, who is rich in mercy, he made us alive together with Christ. Well, here we have the same type of thing, but God saved us, wretches that we were, and we were all wretches.

So, notice the pronoun shift in verse 3. So, back in verse 1, he says, remind them, but in verse 3, it changes. For we ourselves were also once like this. So, Paul includes himself. He includes Titus.

He includes the believers on Crete, and he includes us. So, every Christian who reads this list in verse 3 instantly recognizes a description of themselves. And if you don't see yourself in verse 3 here, then you know what?

This is not an exhaustive list. There are other lists in the Bible that describe very thoroughly our depravity and our wickedness, and you can go find yourself in those lists. And if you can't find yourself in those lists, then I commend to you first John 1, 9 that says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

But I'm very confident that we all very easily see ourselves fitting into this.

Verse.

And it makes me think of 1 Corinthians 6, chapter 6, verse 11. And so, Paul here, he's talking about, it's another one of those lists, and he's talking about all those things, all those types of people who are not going to inherit the kingdom, whether it be fornicators, or idolaters, or revilers.

And then he says, but such were some of you, which is a really nice way of saying, we were all like that, right? We were all displaying various degrees of the symptoms, sure, but we were all suffering from the same disease.

And like spiritual icebergs, the vast majority of our rottenness was hidden down beneath the surface. Just entertained in the depths of our hearts and our minds. So, your life may not have looked exactly like verse 3 on the outside, but we read that list and we know.

We know and we confess that, yeah, that was me, right? That was me. We were all in the same boat. We were all on that same sinking ship together. So, verse 3 calls us to remember who we were without Christ.

And verse 3 serves as a pivotal thought between the good works of verses 1 and 2 and the gospel truths of verses 4 through 7. It connects the two parts and it serves a twofold purpose. The first of which is to generate empathy within its hearers.

Empathy in the hearts of redeemed believers toward the lost, who are the focus up in verses 1 and 2. And then secondly, verse 3 creates a backdrop against which to magnify the glorious salvation of God, which we see in verses 4 through 7.

So, let's talk about empathy for a little bit. So, why? That's the question that is implicit here that Paul is answering in verse 3. Why should we submit ourselves to egotistical murderous tyrants like Nero, for example?

Why should we do good to those who revile and persecute us? Who speak all kinds of evil against us falsely just because we follow Jesus? Why should we refrain from speaking evil against those who are truly, desperately wicked, who flaunt their depravity and revel in their perversion?

Why be peaceable and gentle and show humility toward any of those blasphemous sinners who surely don't deserve it?

Yikes.

And there it is. That's a big, heavy, dangerous word, deserve. So, when somebody starts talking about what they do and they don't deserve or what somebody else does and doesn't deserve, it almost instantly exposes whether or not they are working within a biblical worldview, okay?

Whether or not they have a right understanding of sin and the human condition and redemption. So, who gets to define what we deserve? Is it finite man who loves to stroke his ego and paint his sin in the most favorable light?

Or is it the infinite immortal God who dwells in unapproachable light? And we know the answer to that question. We have agreed with God that we deserve judgment. We deserve death. But did we get what we deserve?

No.

Christ took it from us and he gave us what he deserves. The Cretan believers knew and we know what it's like to be utterly hopeless and simultaneously blind to our own hopelessness. And then armed with that perspective, that 20 -20 hindsight, we can love our enemies, we can bless those who curse us, we can do good to those who hate us, and we can pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.

But for the grace of God, right? With them still participating in all the things that are displeasing to God,.

But for his grace.

So, let me quote a guy named Terry Johnson who summed up this principle of Christian empathy well, I thought. He says, He who has forgiven much loves much. Luke 747. Grasp the magnitude of your forgiveness and you'll be eager to obey.

Measure it by the depths from which you were rescued and the heights from which you have been raised. Dwell on it. Ponder it. As you do, the more you will love Christ in return, the more you will desire to serve him, and the more you will look with compassion upon those still stuck in the mire from which you have been delivered.

So, remembering who we were without Christ helps us to have empathy toward those who are currently without Christ. And it also helps us to see in part, and we will see fully later, but in part now, it helps us to see the glory, the magnitude of the glory of God's salvation.

So, let me try to paint a picture for you, and this is going to fall woefully short, but God has ordained that you, that who you were, let me rephrase that, that who you were without Christ, that dark, sin-riddled, painfully rebellious, lust-saturated, pride-filled, grimy, slimy, wretched past self was to be the backdrop, the canvas for his masterpiece of salvation.

And he drenched that canvas with the purest, brightest, widest primer imaginable called the blood of Christ. And some might say, that just sounds like putting lipstick on a pig. All that filth and that grime, it's just right there under the surface.

Until you take a closer look and realize that the primer has fundamentally fused with the fibers of the canvas of your life, utterly nullifying the stains and restoring and reconditioning the fabric to accept a new kind of paint.

And then Jesus takes up his paintbrush loaded with colors that your mind cannot fathom from a collection called new creation. And with great joy and great pleasure, he begins to paint on you. Now, there was recently discovered a new color, you may have heard about this, a new color that no human being has ever seen before because it doesn't exist in nature, it can only be replicated in a lab.

And it was said that it was the most ultra-saturated, iridescent blue-green that you can think of. And I can only imagine that seeing that new color for the first time evoked an emotional response from those scientists.

Probably a mixture of cheers and even tears. And I can imagine that every color in Jesus's palette is brilliant and new just like that. If we could fully see with spiritual eyes the colors of the tapestry, that magnificent mosaic that God is painting on his people, I think that we would weep at its beauty.

For it is merely a reflection of his own majesty. The rescue of great sinners only serves to magnify the greatness of our savior. So this is the foundation, this is the foundation for our good works. We can do good toward awful men because we too are flesh.

And we remember the helplessness and the hopelessness. And we remember the sorrows with no one to comfort. We remember the darkness and the depravity of our own souls. And we remember, but God saved us out of that.

And he transferred us into the kingdom of his own son. And he is transforming us by the power of his saving grace. Christ at work in us produces fruit that is profitable to all men. He sits on the throne and says, behold, I make all things new, Revelation 21 .5.

And therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new, 2 Corinthians 5 .17. And that's the foundation of our good works. Any questions?

Any thoughts? That's all I have for you tonight. All right, well, we started praying. Let's end praying. Pray for us. Lord God, you are good in all your ways. You are trustworthy and true. I pray that your word would do our souls good as we meditate upon who you are and what you have done.

Grow us up into Christ. Lord, help us to be a blessing to those around us as we live out the truth of your word. Thank you for your great salvation and our great savior. It's in his name we pray, amen.