Sermons on Titus
Titus
A Beautiful Gift
The grace of God is a beautiful gift. It is a gift that ought to be on display so that the world can know how precious it is to us. However, a divided church that is always fighting about silly issues makes the precious gift of grace look a whole lot less precious than it really is.
In tonight’s passage, Paul concludes his instructions to Titus with some advice on how to approach divisive issues and divisive people in the church. We see that grace demands unity and that our unity shows off grace.
Changed by Grace
Churches are vulnerable to rogue ideas and deceptive teachers. They need good leadership. They need sound teaching. Tonight’s passage stresses the importance of two vital aspects of this teaching …… firstly, what God expects of us in terms of Christian behaviour, and secondly, how God’s grace is the key to true and lasting change and growth in our lives. Not only are we saved by grace. We are also changed by grace. It is only with God’s help that we can really say “No” to ungodliness and “Yes” to godliness. When we really understand this enabling grace, then it not only makes the Christian life possible. It makes it necessary!
Leaders to look for
One of Titus’ most important jobs was to appoint the right people to lead the Cretan church. But what kind of leaders was he to look for? We find Paul’s answer to this question in our passage today. We see a picture of the kind of leaders that are worth following as well as an example of leaders that we ought to avoid. Listen as we consider Paul’s instructions to Titus and how we should apply them as we appoint leaders in the church today.
Gospel truths to remember
Life and ministry can be hard. Paul knew that. And he knew that the job that he’d left Titus to do in Crete was no easy job. Titus was going to face many challenges and discouragements.So Paul wrote him a letter. On the surface, these first few verses are just Paul’s way of greeting Titus. But when we look more deeply, we see that these verses contain several foundational gospel truths. In the midst of busy and difficult life and ministry, these are truths that Titus needs to remember. And they’re truths that we need to remember as well.