ADORNING THE DOCTRINE OF GOD

We don’t know very much about Paul’s mission to the island of Crete; in fact, no records exist of when he was actually there, but we know he was (see Titus 1:5). The letter that Paul sent to Titus was meant to assist this faithful young man as he put things in order and set the new believers into churches in Crete. Paul shares very practical advice on what specific groups to address and what to talk to them about.

In Titus 2:9-10, Paul focuses on what today would be the large, middle-income working class. Bondservants of Paul’s day were the blue-collar workers, the office workers, the laborers who made the country run. Many of these had come to faith in Christ during Paul’s visit to Crete.

“[Slaves] are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior ” (Titus 2:9-10, ESV).

Here is a brief synopsis of Paul’s teaching for them:

1.   Be obedient to their bosses. They were to submit to the leadership of the place of business where they worked.

2.   They were to be “well pleasing in all things.” This meant they were to do their work with excellence, with an eye for detail and with a good attitude.

3.   They were to handle conflict with grace, and use wisdom and courtesy by not answering back.

4.   They were not to pilfer. That means no stealing. If that pen in your pocket belongs to the company, why is it on its way to your desk at home? Pilfering shows a lack of integrity.

5.   Good workers are loyal and dependable. Paul emphasizes this when he says, “Show all good fidelity.”

This is practical advice for believers living in a corrupt and immoral society, which is exactly what Crete was known to be (and how about the world we live in today?).

Not only is this good advice for daily living but Paul brings it into sharp focus when he says, “So that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10).

How can we adorn or make attractive the teaching which is about our Savior?

First, let’s talk about the word “adorn.” Paul may have been engaging in a little wordplay here. Crete was known as a center for the manufacture of jewelry; we could say it was “the bling capital of the first century.” So Paul, who was no slouch with words, may have been using this to capture the attention of Titus and the Cretans.

The word  adorn means to present something in a way that makes what it is attached to more attractive, like an ornament on a tree, or jewelry on a pretty lady. The second way this word is commonly used in the New Testament is to trim, as in “trimming the lamp.” Why were lamps “trimmed”? Because after hours of use, the wick would burn down, ash would accumulate on the wick, and the light from the lamp would dim considerably. A trimmed lamp had the ash removed and the wick slightly elevated so that the amount of light that went forth was noticeably increased.

To “adorn the doctrine of God” does not mean to add to the gospel . . . not at all. The heart of what Paul is saying here is that when we truly embrace and live the truth of the gospel, we attractively show the message to unbelievers. There is nothing more persuasive to the unbeliever than the life of someone living in the grace and mercy of the Lord — it is compelling to them! Don’t worry about what they say or how they may insult or ridicule; the life of a believer fully committed to Him brings the presence of the Holy Spirit with it and that brings conviction and a drawing to Christ.

Paul is saying to the Cretans, “When you live like a believer, you show forth the qualities of obedience, excellence, grace, integrity and loyalty! The amount and quality of the light you show to the world is greatly enhanced and they will see God’s life in you much more clearly!”

What does it mean if, instead of showing forth these qualities as believers, we show forth the opposite? What does that do to the beauty of the message? Ouch!

The message, then, is, “We can adorn the doctrine of God by the life we live.”

One hundred years ago in Japan, businessmen would seek out and hire Christians, at that time just a tiny, tiny minority of the population, to work in the financial areas of their businesses. Why would they look for Christians? Because Christians in Japan were known to be people of exceptional integrity. Is that a great testimony or what?

As St. Francis of Assisi was reported to have said, “Preach the gospel always and, when necessary, use words.”

HUNGRY AND THIRSTY

A blazing hot sun, no shade for miles, empty canteen, dry mouth — and no water anywhere! You think this is trouble? Hang on, there’s more! On top of everything, you are lost and hungry. Somehow you got off the trail you were supposed to be on and now you can’t find your way back. And you’re hungry because you didn’t take time for a full meal before getting started on your hike.

It is one thing to be hungry or thirsty but to be both at the same time is painfully uncomfortable and has potentially dangerous consequences. And, yet, that’s the level of intensity Jesus was describing as He sat with His disciples and shared what became known as The Beatitudes.

As Jesus laid out the characteristics of who would be blessed in the kingdom of God, He said that those who were painfully, intensely hungry and thirsty for more of Him would be filled to overflowing. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (filled)” (Matthew 5:6, ESV).

This verse is truly one of the great keys to personal growth in Him. The key that unlocks the door to spiritual growth is hunger: hunger for more of Him and more of His Word; hunger that causes us to shut the door on the noise and demands of life and get up close and personal with Him. The concept is not complicated but often is overlooked, perhaps because we think it is just too simple or too old-fashioned.

Let’s look at the verse for a moment:

Blessed means “to experience the fullness of all that God is, to be happy and spiritually prosperous.” Happiness is a by-product of righteousness. This is not a smiley-face type of happiness; it is the joy, the peace, the contentment that comes from a life that has been made right with God.

Food and water are physical necessities and when we find them difficult to obtain, we can become rather intense in our desire to satisfy our needs. Righteousness (to be in right standing with God) is shown here to be a spiritual necessity. Just as it is not wrong to desire food and water in the natural, so it is fully natural to desire righteousness in our spiritual life.

In Luke 15 we are given an illustration of a believer who goes astray in his pursuit of righteousness. The Prodigal thought that pleasure, possessions and popularity would bring him the satisfaction he craved and so he wandered away from a correct relationship with his father. As he came to the end of his empty pursuit, he made this telling statement: “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). The Prodigal was intensely hungry but there was no answer for him in the direction his path was taking him.

The story of the Prodigal is a parable about the condition of many in the church today. Much of their discontent exists because the church’s focus has shifted from the pursuit of righteousness to other, less important, things. Over twenty million believers have left the church in the U.S. in the last few years, largely because they are spiritually hungry and have not been taught how to eat. 

“They shall be satisfied.” This is a promise of spiritual fulfillment, a promise to the spiritually famished: “Your hunger and thirst will be satisfied!” The word satisfied speaks of being fed to the point that you are “filled and happy” in Him. This satisfied or filling that Jesus speaks of has a double fulfillment. There is an initial filling that takes place when the hungry heart reaches out to God, and a continual refilling that takes place as the relationship proceeds. Notice that I said, “as the relationship proceeds.” We are to grow in our relationship with Him just as a husband and wife grow together in a successful marriage.

When the Prodigal came to his senses and acknowledged his hunger, he did something about it: He went home to where plenty of food was available. If you are satisfied with little or nothing spiritually, then welcome to a life full of the pangs of hunger and the resulting lack of spiritual health. If, on the other hand, you are hungry and ready to do something about it, then God has made you an irrevocable promise: “You will be satisfied!”

There is no spiritual disappointment for the hungry heart that reaches to Him! You will be filled with a peace and contentment that is beyond the understanding of human reasoning.

O, God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints (has intense desire) for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17).

BLESS AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HATE YOU

In the last two blogs we briefly looked at 1 Peter 3:8. A large portion of Peter’s message encouraged young churches to remain faithful during a time of severe persecution. The apostle reminded the churches of five qualities that he knew they needed to embrace if they were going to survive the difficult time they were in.

I believe Peter’s message is just as important for us as it was for them. The church today is being persecuted and it will intensify in the days ahead. I just saw a report that the state of Kentucky is not allowing pastors who serve as counselors in their youth facilities to say that homosexuality is a sin. In both Canada and England, pastors can be arrested for saying that the practice of homosexuality is a sin.

In 1 Peter 3:9, the apostle instructed the church in how to respond to persecution. “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you might obtain a blessing”.

 Peter was there when Jesus delivered what has become known as The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “I say to you ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’” (Matthew 5:44). Peter was teaching the same truth to a new generation of Christ followers. Paul also taught the same when he said, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 12:14).

I find it extremely challenging to “love my enemies.” How about you? Have you thought this through? Does Jesus mean that we should love the terrorists who are killing Christians? And are we supposed to bless them?

Before I give you the answer that I have arrived at for this command, let me try to unpack 1 Peter 3:9 a bit.

The Pharisees had taught the Jewish people about giving “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But Jesus said, “No, love your enemies and pray for them,” and that’s what Peter and Paul were teaching the young church.

The word evil in this verse is speaking of morally objectionable behavior and the word reviling speaks of abusive words that are meant to damage a person’s reputation.

What does it mean “to bless” those that persecute you? The word blessing means to “invoke divine favor, often implying a positive disposition or kind action toward the recipient.” Now that’s a mouthful, isn’t it? By the Lord, we have been given the authority to bless people.

The challenge in this for me is to bless people who hate me, who dislike me, who lie about me. I have found it to be releasing to my spirit to pray for and bless that itinerant preacher who has told lies about me to a number of pastors that we know in common. And through this trial I have found that I can pray for those who are my enemies, and I can bless them — and as I do, I get blessed.

So Jesus, Peter and Paul are all speaking to us today as we look around at a world that is becoming increasingly chaotic and antagonistic toward Christ followers. They are saying, “Do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult but, instead, bless them and pray for them because to this you were called.”

Let me finish with the story of Stephen, who was one of the men chosen to be a deacon in the first church.

“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8).

Stephen was being greatly used of God, which brought him to the attention of some of those who hated the new church. They were going to great lengths to stop the spreading of the gospel. Eventually they lied about Stephen and he was arrested and taken before the High Priest to be judged.

Acts 7:2-53 is Stephen’s sermon to the High Priest and his accusers. The sermon caused an uproar among Stephen’s accusers and they cast him out of the city and began to stone him.

Stephen’s response to being stoned was, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). This was a form of a blessing. It would have been easy for Stephen to curse them and say, “Lord, judge them for what they are doing and send them all to hell” — but he didn’t. Instead, he blessed them and asked the Lord to have mercy on them.

One of the Pharisees who witnessed and encouraged Stephen’s death was the man who later became the Apostle Paul (see Acts 7:58 and 8:1).

Isn’t it interesting that the next time we hear of Saul he is on his way to Damascus to attack the church there? But on the road to Syria he had an encounter with the Lord Jesus and was converted.

I believe that the manner in which Stephen died and Stephen’s blessing had a great impact on Saul. That blessing subsequently assisted in opening the door for the worst terrorist of the day to become a Christ follower!

“Bless, love and pray for those who curse you and despitefully use you” (my paraphrase).

         

                                                                               

TRANSFORMED INTO A MAN OF GOD - 2

The apostle Peter teaches and encourages the church to stand fast in the face of persecution. In last week’s post we discussed the first two of five qualities that he listed in 1 Peter 3:8. They were unity and sympathy. If you missed reading last week’s post, you can go to Archives on the left side of the page and choose October and then the article Transformed Into A Man Of God.

As we continue looking at 1 Peter 3:8, we next come to the words “brotherly love.”

BROTHERLY LOVE

There are several words in the Greek for love but here Peter chose to use the word philadelphio, which is translated “brotherly love.” It is easy to see how the name of the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, came from this.

It is one thing for a group to be united but it’s something else for them to display love between themselves. We are to “love as brothers” because we are family.

I must admit that at times I don’t feel very comfortable saying that I love everybody but I know that I must. I doubt that there is one person reading this post who hasn’t been hurt by a fellow Christian. They may have offended you in some way by something that was said or done, and it left a bad taste in your mouth. But no matter what they have done, you are to love them as a brother.

Jesus said to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34, ESV).

We are family!

Next we come to “tenderhearted.”

TENDERHEARTED    

 

In the King James Version, the word that Peter used here was translated “be pitiful.” Somehow I don’t think the translators had in mind what today’s interpretation of that phrase is. Peter was saying to the church that we are to have kind thoughts towards each other; we are to be compassionate or tenderhearted toward each other.

Sometimes during times of stress I find myself becoming rather rigid/hard-hearted toward people I know. I guess it’s a type of defensive reaction. Peter is addressing the church during a time that it was going through severe persecution and was teaching them that they must not allow a hardness of heart to overtake them.

The great secret of maintaining a tender heart lies in our fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was so strong and at the same time so tenderhearted — not because He knew so little but because He knew so much. He saw all that men had to bear and battle through. He never lost His tenderheartedness even in the darkness of going to the cross. Our staying in fellowship with Him will powerfully assist us in staying tenderhearted toward our brothers and sisters in the church.

Finally we come to “a humble mind.”

A HUMBLE MIND

Humility is the posture of every strong Christian. The seat of humility is in the heart/mind. It is not a gift we are given but a conscious choice of the follower of Christ.

First Peter 5:5: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

The word Peter chose here for opposes is a military term that means to resist or counter. In plain words, this tells us that God will have nothing to do with pride. This is not an isolated passage.

For thus says the high and lofty One
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isaiah 57:15, RSV).

I have had the privilege of meeting some really great and well known men and women of God over the last fifty years and I can attest to the fact that all of the really great ones were humble. I don’t like some of what I see on Christian TV. I especially don’t like seeing some who brag about all they’ve done, all they have, and how great they are. The really humble ones don’t do that; they just do the work of God and give Him the glory.

We have personal control over these qualities Peter listed that we need in order to stand fast in times of great pressure and persecution. We choose to be in unity; we choose to flow in sympathy; we choose to be people of brotherly love; we choose to be tenderhearted; and we choose to be humble.

But will we?

A strong church happens only when individuals are strong, and they link arms with their brothers and sisters in Christ.

“United we stand, divided we fall.”