Our text for the message this evening comes from the book of Titus, Titus chapter 3. We're going to only be looking at the first three verses this evening. I was debating whether to do the whole thing or just look at a section of it. And today, I decided we're going to do the first three verses. And then next week, we will probably look at the remainder of the chapter. But I'll read the entire chapter for context. Titus chapter 3, beginning at verse 1. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 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. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, 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, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 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, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. When I send Artemis or Tychius to you, do your best to come to me in Nicopolis, for I've decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Xenus, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way. See that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Let's pray as we look at God's word. Heavenly Father, may as we hear this word, as we look at this text, may you work life in us and may you teach us a little bit more what it means to be those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and what it means to be a follower of Christ who devotes themselves to good works. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I've recently, for obvious reasons, become much more acquainted with children's movies over the past few years, as I've had the pleasure of introducing my own four children to old classics and also seeing the new stuff that's out there on Netflix or Amazon or whatever it is. And one of the things now as an adult that I noticed as a child but I've noticed more and more is just in the past 20 years or 30 years, how many of children's movies seem to follow almost the exact same theme. You can almost pick a random Disney movie and it will follow some sort of theme along the lines of, here's a young person who is upset by the structures around her, who's annoyed by the authority figures in her life, and decide that she's going to be or he's going to be their own person and be themselves against all pressures and they go off have adventures and come back and gloriously the authority figures which were previously so strict with them they recognize that they should have given them their freedom and then accept them according to the new person they decide to be. Pick your Disney movie that's gonna be what you see or your other children's movie. I have yet to see the Disney movie about the young man who decides to take up his father's business and lives the rest of his life in his small town. I've not yet seen that Disney movie. I've yet to see the Disney movie about the young girl who grows up and marries the boy next door and they have 12 kids and live happily ever after. I've yet to see that movie. Even though that's probably most of people's lives in history who have lived good lives, that's been their story. But that's not the story we want to tell anymore. Following authority or following and submitting to the normal patterns of life is not something which is seen as virtuous. In fact, it seems like you are doing the opposite of living your best life now if you are someone who seeks to submit to authorities or conform to them. And I think the same goes for us in general, even if we're not children. When we hear these words of submission, of obedience, we don't naturally gravitate towards that. In fact, if anything, we tend to pull back from these words because they cut against the grain of, I think, just humans in general, but particularly of how we have told our story of who we are and who we want to be in Western culture. And so the Apostle Paul, as he is writing to the people in Crete, writing to Titus, as he is to instruct the people in Crete, speaks to them and tells Titus to remind the Cretans, remind those he has this duty to shepherd, to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work. As one commentator notes, actually, this is just the beginning of seven commands that Paul tells Titus to remind the Cretans about, seven virtues that are to be displayed in a Christian life. And so we'll look at these first virtues here, and then we'll begin to see the theological reasons for these virtues. And we'll complete looking at those theological reasons next week. But again, these first commands here is that he is to remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. Now, why does Paul say and command them to be submissive to rulers and authorities? Now, these rulers and authorities here, given the word for obedience and given the overall context, is clear. He's not just talking about authorities in general, although it has application in that sphere. He's particularly talking about the civil authorities, those who have authority in the civil realm, not about religious authority or even parental authority. He talks about that elsewhere. He's talking about civil authority, the magistrates, the governors, et cetera. And why does he do this? Well, it's because scripture unanimously throughout all of its pages teaches that civil authority and government, those who have the care for the civil realm, is something that has been instituted by God and not primarily by man. I think this is an important point to make because There's much in our society that sees authority as something which is purely man-made. Either it's oppressive, or it's something that we collectively decide to set somebody up as an authority. Even those sometimes in some wings of the libertarian camp want to say that authority in the civil realm is a nature of the fall, right? We have to have authority to restrain evil because of the fall into sin. It's a necessary evil, you shall say. But the Bible doesn't talk about authority necessarily that way. It flows from creation itself. And because of that, because authority is something that is set up by God, that is one of the reasons why that we are to be submissive to it, because it's one of the ways that God works out his plan for the world. Again, the important parallel passage to this is that everyone's favorite passage, Romans 13. Romans 13, 1 through 3, 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. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 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. You will receive his approval. Now, it's important to note that when Paul talks about authorities, either in Romans 13 or here, he's not talking about just the good ones. He's not talking about just authorities which happen to be worshipers of Christ. Calvin comments on this passage, and I want to read just at length, because I think it's a noteworthy comment. He says, now Christians were solemnly commanded to obey rulers and authorities at a time when those who bore the sword of justice were unbelievers and enemies of God. If we were ruled, speaking in his own time, because he was, again, in a place where people who confessed Christ were the rulers, he says, but even if we were ruled by Turks, tyrants, or deadly opponents of the gospel, we would still be commanded to submit to them. Why? Calvin says that it's because that is God's good pleasure. And even though magistrates may have nothing which deserves honor or obedience, the seat they occupy has been ordained by God. Resistance, therefore, is not something which wrongs them. It wrongs, rather, the one who put them there and who desires his image to shine forth in them. Remember, then, that not only is submission required of us, we must also, for our part, make sure that the order established by God on earth is preserved, that none should envy those who are greater than they and that have been raised up to a place of distinction." So Calvin here is saying that he's not just talking about the authorities that we like, or even the authorities who honor God. He says, even the authorities who are enemies of the gospel are sitting in a seat, sitting in an office which has been ordained by God. And that is the reason, not because of any virtue in the men themselves, not because of any, even their own ethics, because of the civil government is something that has been ordained by God, and therefore we have to honor it because of what it is, and somebody sits in that seat. And again, at the beginning of this passage, Paul says, to remind them to be submissive to rulers. In other words, this is something that either Paul had previously taught them or Paul and Titus had been previously teaching and he says to remind them of this because they need to be reminded of this. Because it's something that's easy to wish wasn't there or to forget. I think it's important for us to be reminded of this as well. Because what is our first thought when we hear a command like this in Titus, or even in Calvin's kind of exposition of this. What kind of the first thoughts that come into your head? My guess is because you are Americans, the first thought that comes into your head is all the exceptions. What does this not mean? Where are the limits of governmental power where I can then resist, where I don't have to follow them? I'd say that's probably knowing myself and knowing you, that's kind of the first thought that comes into your head. What are the limits of this? How far does this go? What does this not mean? And I think we should check our hearts there. Because again, as we'll note a little bit later on, there's important qualifiers to this elsewhere in scripture. But those qualifiers aren't given here. And so we should first ask the question, do I have this sort of orientation towards even unrighteous civil government as being a good gift of God, which we are to seek to preserve, and seek to honor, and seek to submit to, and seek to obey? is that our natural first inclination, because that's the inclination that scripture wants us to have. And I think that runs against a lot of our natural grain. For example, I would say the same thing when we get involved in questions of relation to the family. For instance, some people, when they read texts like we looked at a few weeks ago, or last week in Titus 2, where Paul instructs the older women to teach the younger women to be submissive to their husbands. and says that bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters and everything. That's the same word. And I think sometimes other people, when they read text like that, say wives are to be submissive to their husbands or bondservants are to be submissive to their masters, in those contexts, the first instinct you might have is, what are the limits of that? And I'd say we should also check our hearts in those areas as well. But maybe we're more comfortable with those questions. But when it comes to civil government, that's where we're like, whoa. We need to check our hearts, however our natural inclination is in these areas, and first say, what is God calling me to have an attitude in this area? Now granted, there's a lot of. complexities around this which you don't have time to get into today. When Paul's writing, he wasn't writing to a place that lived in a representative democracy. What does it mean when you have the privilege of being able to theoretically elect your representatives? when you have to campaign in order to say you shouldn't vote for this person and should vote for this person. In most societies, the authorities just were there. They were born as your authorities, and they were going to be their authority until they died. That's, thankfully, not the world we live in. But what does it mean to follow this in the same principle applies regardless of how your authorities come into place. But one of the reasons Paul gives this command is partially beyond just the The creational reason, this is one of the ways that God orders his world, is also an evangelistic reason. Back over in chapter two, which we looked at when Elder Kazan preached last week, Paul talked about how that they were to be models of integrity and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. One of the reasons we are to have this orientation towards civil government of submission and obedience is an evangelistic impulse, so that there can be no charge that the reason why we do the things we're doing is just because we're rebellious people, just because we're against all authority. We just want to go our own way. No, we are to submit to them, because there will be very important places where We're not going to submit to the federal government or whatever government, whatever civil authority it is. We're not going to follow because we follow a higher authority. So it's important for us to positively seek to submit, honor, and obey, even unjust authorities in areas where they are not requiring us to sin, even if we think that they are wrong in their rules. Because if we are consistently living out our faith, there will be many areas where we'll be out of step and maybe even required by our conscience to go against our rulers. But it must be clear that even when we do this, we are doing this from a posture of obedience and respect to those who have been placed in these roles of ministers of God. Again, the classic example of being called to go against a command from a civil authority is in Acts 529, when Peter and those around him were charged not to preach the gospel, not to preach in the name of Jesus. And Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than man. So we are required to always obey God rather than man. But part of what God commands is for us to obey those he's placed in positions of civil authority. But we're to do it not in kind of just a giving in to whatever the government is saying or whatever the civil authorities are saying in being conformed to their plans. Let's put it that way. Because as Calvin notes and as others notes, many times these civil authorities will have a vision for what they're trying to create, the world they're trying to build, which actually runs contrary to the ways of God. Think of Nebuchadnezzar building his empire. He's doing it for his own glory, right? And he's going to get the royal smackdown for that. But yet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego honor him as king, even when they have to resist him and stand and refuse to bow to the image which he has set up. So we are to be obedient, submissive, but we are not to be conformed to the ways of this world. Because the scriptures speak about obedience and submission, but it says everywhere else, the world is set against the things of God. And frequently, those who are rulers in this world will be oriented as enemies of God. And we should be open and honest about that and not pretend that's not the case. But even, this is the way God does things, even those who are openly enemies against God can be called ministers of God. Because God uses them, uses the institution of civil government to carry out his purposes. It's noteworthy right before Paul in Romans 13 gives that section on obedience to civil magistrates, he says in the previous chapter, do not conform to the pattern of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. So there's a lot of wisdom that's needed in how we navigate this. But I think we should be very careful not to run too quickly when we hear commands like this in scripture. to jumping to the exceptions or jumping to where the limits are. I think we need to have those discussions. But first, we have to recognize what scripture is calling us to here. And this is not to get too present and political. But this is something that I know many of us have wrestled with on individual basis and as church institutions as we've been going through the COVID time. What are the limits of government authority? When is it right to resist? How should we as a church respond to government regulations? And this is something we as a session wrestled with mightily and still continue to do so. And we're kind of just beginning to get our discussions going. But these are the questions that are right for us to ask. and to wrestle with? Am I just, because I don't like something, am I just going to go against it? Or is this something which is an inappropriate imposition of government, and I need to obey God rather than man in this, because I think that this is pushing over the bounds? These are the questions that we, as a session, wrestled with and are wrestling with, and I know many of you individually wrestled with in your own ways. And these are the kind of questions we need to ask, kind of a practical application area for this, but in a multitude of other areas. And I think this is going to be an even harder question for us as we have a society which is more and more going to be setting themselves, and explicitly setting themselves, in opposition to the gospel. The tendency will be for us to not listen to verses like this which command submission and obedience. And if you ask, how do we do that? in a society and a government which is pushing against those things which God calls good. So these are the questions that we need to take seriously and wrestle with. But Paul goes on to give a couple more practical examples of what does this look like. He says that we are to have readiness for every good work. So in order to be submissive and obedient, ready for every good work. Again, this is a major theme we've seen through Titus. He's constantly calling them to be ready for good work. And I think in this case, it's talking about an orientation towards their community. to not just be oriented towards caring for their own community. I think that's explicitly talked about everywhere in scripture, but also being oriented towards the civil society as a whole, given the context here speaking about being submissive to rulers and authorities. We are to seek the good of the city where we have been placed. We should have a reputation for being invested in the good of our community. a readiness for it. And we're to have tongues that refrain from speaking evil of anyone I thought of this recently. There was a Supreme Court case that came down this past week that dealt with a case of a teenager who was really upset that she didn't make the varsity team. She got junior varsity, and so she sent a Snapchat, basically expletive-laden Snapchat, about the authorities at her school. And the authorities saw this Snapchat and suspended her from the junior varsity cheerleading team. ended up becoming an issue of free speech, which went all the way up to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court ruled that actually that is protected speech, because it didn't happen on campus. So she could not be punished for what she said off campus. And we, as Americans, like free speech. And we're very protective, and I think rightfully so, of our rights in that area. But just because we have a political right to do something, what should be our orientation as Christians? Just because we can say something doesn't mean we should. He says, don't speak evil of anyone. Or literally, it's the word blasphemeo. That should sound familiar to you, the word blaspheme. We shouldn't blaspheme others. Speak evil of them. Tear down their reputations. We should follow the Ninth Commandment. Don't bear false witness. And I think in particular, he's speaking of, he says anyone, but in the context of speaking of the civil authorities. And this is one where I know I have failed personally. Whenever we come to topics like this, I feel convicted of my own failures in this area. Because I like a good joke, and I like a good joke at a good politician's expense. And I like, and I'm even more millennial, I like a good meme. And I like a good meme that's at the expense of a politician, and I like sharing those memes with people. But oftentimes, that sense where we have a mocking attitude towards those that God has placed in places of authority, even when we are rightfully criticizing them harshly and strongly, a mocking attitude or where we place things to exaggerations or fail to acknowledge that God can use them for good because we see how much they are seeking to do evil we can stray into this having a blaspheming attitude towards those. And again, this is complicated because we live in this representative democracy thing where we have to convince people if we're engaging in politics, that that is somebody you shouldn't vote for, and here's the reasons why. And our culture generally moves to extremes, and we can try to jump into those same extremes and play by the same rules, and we should resist that. We should not be known for having tongues that blaspheme others. He says that we have hearts that avoid quarreling. So hearts that avoid quarreling, it says here. We're not to have a combative orientation as Christians, but we're to seek to be peaceable and to foster peace. Beyond that, he says that we are to be gentle. Is that what describes the Christian church in America today, or Christians, particularly in relation to the civil government? Can we be appropriately described as gentle? The word here, as one of the main lexicons defines it, as not insisting on every right of letter of law or custom. Yielding, gentle, kind, courteous. Not insisting on every right of letter, law, or custom. Are we Christians gentle? Calvin says something very strong about this. He says, we must show that we are from the school of him who treats us with nothing but kindness. Unless we are like our Lord Jesus Christ in this respect, whatever else we do may impress the world with a show of holiness. But to God, it is mere filth. We must show we are from the school of our master who treats us with kindness. Because we've been treated with such kindness, do we have that same kind attitude towards the world? And he goes on to say that we are to show perfect courtesy to all. Again, the word here translated as courtesy is defined as the quality of not being overly impressed by one's own self-importance. Gentleness, humility, courtesy, considerateness, meekness. to not be overly impressed by one's own self-importance. Again, I think Americans, we tend to be overly impressed with our own sense of self-importance, both as individuals and even as a nation. But do we have that sense as something to be desired and cultivated? In fact, what's translated as show perfect courtesy is the two uses of the word all. to show all courtesy to all, I think would be like a literal translation. We're to have all courtesy, all kindness, all meekness, all gentleness to all. So I think the more we medicate on what Paul says here, I think, at least to me, it's a rebuke I need to hear. And it's one I need to, I think I'm still kind of chewing on it. and how to practically apply some of these principles, not also at the expense of other important principles that Scripture teaches. But the last thing I just want us to note, kind of just point us in the direction where we'll look at next week, is the theological reason for all these commands. So Paul's given these things to remind them to do these things, but why? Four, verse three. Because, why are you supposed to do all these things? Why are you to be submissive to rulers and authorities? Why are you to be kind? Why are you not to speak evil of others? Why are you to show perfect courtesy to all? Because, 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. In other words, we need to be kind to all these other people in the world, because they're in the same situation that we once were. And God showed so much kindness to us when we were like that, that we should have that same orientation towards them, even when they show the same kind of hatred and malice towards us that they showed to our Savior, that we at one time showed to our Savior. Why are we to do this? Because we were once like them. And we should not be like them now. They are slaves. And we should recognize that and be full of longing for them to be freed from the bondage they are in. Slaves to various passions. They were foolish. They're disobedient to God. They've been led astray by their own hearts and by the philosophy of this world and by the evil that is drawing people away from Christ. We were passing our days in malice and envy. We were hated by others and hating one another, or we were hateful is another way of translating it. We were full of hate, bringing hate on ourselves and hating one another. That's where we were. But, the second theological reason. First, we were like them, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works. done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. So how do we practically live out that? Why are we to have this orientation towards others, towards civil society? because of what we once were and because of what Christ has done for us. And we'll look more at that great, glorious gospel statement, which I didn't think we could do justice in one sermon. So we can look more at that next week. But that's the reason why, remembering who we were, who we are apart from Christ, and what Christ has done for us. That should motivate us in dealing with people who hate God. One final statement. I remember a professor in seminary once said, you know, like the dominant model of evangelism is, that people talk about, you've heard of, friendship evangelism. Right, you're supposed to, you know, make friends with people, and then you're supposed to share the gospel with them. And he says that's actually unbiblical. The Bible doesn't say evangelize your friends. The Bible says evangelize your enemies. The Bible doesn't say love your friends. The Bible says love your enemies. He says, loving your friends, I don't need to tell you to do that. We naturally do that. We love our friends. We love those who love us. What we don't do naturally, what we need the Holy Spirit to do, is to love our enemies and those who hate us. That's what true evangelism is. Now, of course, you're supposed to share your gospel with your friends. Of course, you're to befriend people. But our goal is not just to find people who like us. Our goal is to find people who need Jesus and love them. even when they don't love Jesus, or even us. So brothers and sisters, I hope you are challenged by this text as I am, but I hope that you see the glorious gift that we have in Christ, of what he's given us. He's given us the gift of government, the gift of civil society. He's given us the gift of Jesus Christ. So may we follow in his footsteps, that he who showed us the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior when he appeared and saved us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for how you made the world. We thank you for our government, with all its flaws, with all its men and women who are involved in it who are opposed to you. We thank you that you have ordained to even use wicked people and wicked governments for our good and for the furtherance of your Kingdom for the order and maintenance of the world. We thank you for that. And I pray that we would honor that intention on your part, them as ministers for our good. And I pray that you would give us the wisdom to know how to interact with our government, how to be faithful in prayer for our government as you command us to do, how to be good citizens as we vote and good citizens as we seek to love our neighbor and even love our enemies. Help us to know how to navigate what it means to obey God rather than man and where those appropriate lines are and how we should go about obeying God rather than man in a way that honors those who hold the positions of authority that you have given, both at home and in the family and in society and even in the workplace, Lord. May we be known for having gentleness, the kind of gentleness that you showed us in Christ Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. And our closing hymn this evening is our Psalm of the Month, Psalm 8, which is printed on the back of your bulletin. And we'll stand as we sing. ♪ The hands that send the glory of good news ♪