W HAT SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE BE toward the wider community? How should Christians live with and among non-Christians? This chapter provides answers.
Paul writes to Titus, who is leading a church on the island of Crete. It’s intended to be read to the whole congregation offering guidance on how to live in a non-Christian political and social system. They are to be obedient to and submissive to the authorities. Paul and Titus both know the reality of power in the ancient world and the need to live within that reality.
They do not live in a democracy where protest rights are enshrined in the constitution. The only alternative is to live within the system and within its terms. This doesn’t mean to do anything or support everything the government demands. Early Christian suffered for not calling Caesar “Lord.” But it is a call to be ready to do good work whenever those opportunities present themselves.
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AN EXAMPLE FROM THE GOSPELS: Jesus says, if “anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” When Roman soldiers passed through town they could grab someone off the streets to carry their gear. On demand they could force someone to carry Roman military equipment one mile. Jesus says march. Not only a mile but two miles. Do the service cheerfully, and do more than you are asked. Show non-Christians the way of Christ. Be obedient to the power of Rome, but also use what opportunities that come along to serve Christ with joy.
Paul also offers practical advice on living in mainly non-Christians streets and workplaces. Engage with the wider community. Live in an attractive way that wins the confidence of others. Speak no evil. Avoid quarreling. Be gentle. Show courtesy to everyone.
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THIS IS GOOD ADVICE FOR TODAY — needed guidance for today. Basically, be nice to folks. Be the genuine article. The real deal. Live with, in, among non-Christians in ways that glorify God. Too often today Christians display unattractive qualities that turn people off. More vinegar than sugar. More guilt than grace.
Why be so gracious to non-Christians? Remember your former life — probably exaggerated in this scripture. You used to be just like them. You used to be foolish and disobedient. Once upon a time you were deceived and enslaved. You harbored malice/ill will and envy/jealousy. You lives were filled with hatred and hating one another. You were despicable in your behavior toward others. Once everything centered on you. Your will. Your way. Your desire. Your needs. Your feelings.
You used to be where these people are now.
For some of us, we don’t have to think too far back. Maybe yesterday, or even this morning. We are still are foolish. We continue to be jealous. We hate in thought, word and deed. We claim Christ, but our “present lives” look an awful lot like our “former lives.” It doesn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way. Remember.
“[Remember] when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
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THIS IS AN ONGOING REMINDER. Continue to be reminded. Hear again, affirm again, confirm again, believe again, live again the decisive intervention of the goodness and loving kindness of God. God “saved us.” Christ is the agent of the divine action of salvation. God poured out the Spirit on us. Remember, God’s philanthropy — love for all. Remember, God’s benevolence — God saved us when we were in the depths of sin. Our lives were dreadful. But God’s goodness and loving kindness appeared to us in Jesus Christ.
Remember, only God establishes and sustains the saving relationship. It doesn’t matter how good or how righteous. Good works are necessary, but as the fruit of our salvation, not the root of our discipleship. Good works will be the inevitable expression (and proof) that the relationship is sound, not its basis.
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LIVE IN LIFE-AFFIRMING WAYS. You used to be dreadful folks. But God intervened with his love and grace. So now what? Paul goes back to the beginning. Christians — those who have come to believe in God — give careful attention to doing good. Doing good benefits everyone. We represent Christ. Stop with the stupid controversies. Stop with quarrels.
Stop wasting time and energy on things that do not benefit anyone. You miss the point entirely! We have not been saved to simmer in discord. We have not been saved to obsess over trivial matters. We have been saved to work for the good of our neighbors. We have been reborn so that we might devote ourselves to good works which are “excellent and profitable to everyone.”
The goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior has appeared. Nothing can ever be the same. Through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, we daily die to sin and rise again to new life with Christ.
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WE HAVE A PURPOSE — TO LIVE as Christ’s own people. We have a purpose — to devote ourselves to what is “excellent and profitable” for our neighbors in this world that God so loves. We have a purpose to serve God in ways that benefit others — even (especially) non-Christian others.
