Tomorrow morning at 1030 AM, I will be receiving an email. The sender of that email will be me, as well as the recipient of it, or more specifically, the calendar application in my computer will be sending me that email. Because years ago I programmed it to send me an email at 1030 on the Monday before we have communion, which will be next Sunday. And I did this as a reminder. And the subject of that email will be the word communion, to remind me that next Sunday is the fourth Sunday of the month. And as the fourth Sunday of the month, we will be celebrating the ordinance of communion together as a church. Now I need that reminder. Because on Mondays, Nick and I usually meet and plan the worship service. And the order of our worship service changes when we have communion versus Sundays like today when we don't have communion. It also reminds me that email does to remind the others, the people who set up communion and take it down and the ushers to plan for whatever needs to be done differently next Sunday than what we would do today. Now I know that we have communion twice a month. That email is not going to be news to me. And I know that we have it on the second and fourth Sunday of the month because I'm the one who decided that. So I'm not sending myself that email to give me new information that I don't already have. I'm sending it to myself as a reminder. Because even though I know these things, I have a lot of things on my mind. And the older I get, the harder it is to remember things that need remembering. Yeah, you preach it, brother. So I've developed triggers in my life to try to remind me of things that need reminding so that I don't forget them. And most importantly, so that I don't fall out of line with things that need to be done just because I've forgotten about them. And in our passage for this morning, Titus chapter three, verses one through eight, Paul wrote to his protege, Titus, one of his most trusted associates and probably one of his best friends. And he wrote him a letter. that not only communicated to the churches that Titus was serving on the island of Crete, things that young Christians and churches need to know, but also things that they already did know, that they needed to be reminded of. And as we look at his words together this morning, as we study this passage and think about what it means, we're going to see some things that are reminders to us. There's probably not a bit of news whatsoever in the passage that we're going to see. There's probably nothing new for your faith or your theology that you didn't already know in the scripture text that we're going to look at this morning. But that doesn't really matter. What matters is, are we living in ways that line up with what we know, or do we need to be reminded, here's some truth. Now let's make our lives live in alignment with that truth. That's what reminders do. Reminders help us to order our actions in accordance with what we know. And that's the point of this message and this passage for this morning. And so as we begin to look at the passage of Scripture, we begin by learning that God's word reminds us to be good to non-Christians. God's word reminds us to be good to non-Christians. And the word good here is meant in the broadest possible sense. It means good in the sense of being righteous in the way that we treat other people, but it also means being good in the sense of being beneficial to them. The ways in which we as Christians operate in this world and treat other non-Christians, other people who aren't followers of Christ, should be characterized as good. God should look at it and say it is good, and the world around us should see the goodness in it as well. Please look with me again at Titus chapter 3, and let's read verses 1 and 2 together, where the scripture says, Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. Now the context of this passage, although the command is a broad one in these verses, and therefore, of course, would apply to believers as well as unbelievers. In context, Paul really has the idea of unbelievers most in his mind. He's concerned that these churches in Crete learn and actually remember that faith in Christ should change the way we treat other people who are not Christians. And the way that it changes the ways in which we treat non-Christians ought to be good. And so these verses remind us and they command us to be good to non-Christians. But they do so in a couple of very specific ways. In verse 1, Paul tells us that one of the ways we should be good to non-Christians is to be good to authorities in government. One of the ways we reflect the power of God in our lives. is to be good in the way that we react to and respond to and interact with people who are authorities in government. Look again at chapter 3, verse 1, where the scripture says, remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good. When Paul thinks about what it looks like for Christians to live in a society filled with non-Christians and governed from above by people who are non-Christians, his words to us are to recognize that the people in authority over us in government are in authority over us. They have power over us by virtue of the offices that they hold and the government that they work in and under. And it's really helpful to remind ourselves that Paul lived in a much more oppressive government than the one that we live in. The government that Paul is describing in this verse is the one that had put him on trial over and over again, simply for preaching the gospel message. And the government that Paul had in mind when he wrote these words was a government that would put him to death at a later point in his life. And so Paul wants us to understand that even though the government may not be Christian and probably isn't Christian, it's filled with non-Christians who have non-Christian ideologies and non-Christian approaches to dealing with the people under them. None of that really matters in the sight of God. And they'll be held to account when they stand before God. What matters is not what they do. What matters is what we do. That if we're going to be good to the non-believers around us, it needs to start with our relationship to a government led by and filled with rulers who are non-Christians themselves. It really doesn't matter which political party, to bring this to our context, it really doesn't matter which political party controls the offices of government, regardless of who controls the offices of government. I think the U.S. government is too powerful. I think the state government that we have is too powerful, all right? These are, I'm telling you my personal beliefs as an American citizen. It doesn't matter who controls it, which party, I think it's too powerful. But as a Christian, what I think about the government doesn't matter. It may matter in the way that I vote, and it may matter in the way that I exercise the privileges and rights that I have as a citizen, and we should exercise those privileges and rights as citizens. I'm not saying we shouldn't. But I am saying this, when we have done everything in our power to try to influence the government in a way that we think it ought to go, regardless of whether we get our way or not, regardless of whether we think the government is doing good or not, regardless of whether we think it's too powerful or not powerful enough. As Christians, God's command to us is explicitly clear. It's to be subject to rulers and authorities. And that phrase, be subject, speaks to our attitude as Christians. It really could be translated to subject yourself. It's a voluntary submission to the authorities over us. And that voluntary submission needs to translate itself into actions. Look at verse one again. It says, remind the people to be subject. There's the attitude to rulers and authorities. And then it says this, to be obedient. Not only to have an attitude of submission, but also to have actions that are obedient with the laws that are passed, with the ways that they are enforced. And there's even more going on here because Paul says to be ready to do whatever is good. There's a civic action that we ought to be willing to perform as Christians. that there are things in our society that we might need to be involved in because they will be good and beneficial for the society around us. Paul says as Christians, one of the ways in which we can display our faith and one of the things we need to be reminded of is to be subject to the authorities, to be obedient to the laws that they pass, and to be ready to step up and do good things in the society in which we live. Throughout Scripture, without exception, believers are commanded to recognize the legitimacy of government. That government has been ordained by God, and under the providence of God, strange though it may seem at times, the people who hold the offices of government have been put there by the will of God Himself. And therefore, if we're going to live in congruency with our beliefs as Christians, if we're going to believe that God is in control and that God has ordained government, then we need to carry that attitude into the way that we respond to and react to the government we have. Whether it's a democratically elected one or one that comes into power like Caesar did, really doesn't matter. What matters is we bring the right attitude and the right actions to it as Christians. God reminds us as Christians to be good to non-Christians around us. And one way that we do that is to be good to the government and the authorities in that government. But verse 2 goes on and generalizes the command further. and tells us that as Christians, we need to be good to everyone in society. As Christians, we need to be good to everyone in society. Of course, contextually speaking, to every non-Christian in society. Look at verse 2 again, where the scripture says, To slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate and always to be gentle toward everyone. These verses tell us that not only should we be good citizens in terms of our relationship with the government, but that every non-Christian that we come into contact with ought to be treated in a certain appropriate, kind, and good way when they come into contact with us. And it starts with your words. In verse two begins with the words, to slander no one. This means to be good in the things that you say about other people. What is slander? Slander is negative talk about a third party. If I slander someone, I am speaking to someone else and saying negative things about the person that I am speaking about. And as Christians, slander should never be part of our vocabulary. It should never be part of our conversation. We should never be party to discussions that tear down the character of other people in the presence of either believers or non-believers. And let me just, can I just get really specific here for a moment? Because this, of course, applies to every non-Christian, but that means it still applies to non-Christians in government. And I want to get really practical and really specific this morning. Our current governor is not someone that I voted for. And I don't plan on voting for her when she runs for re-election. Because she doesn't hold the same kind of political philosophy that I do, and I already told you that I think the government's too powerful. But despite all that, I've seen online some of the most slanderous things said about our governor by Christians, sometimes by Christian leaders, by pastors who are friends of mine. And I just look at the things that are said, and I look at a passage like this, and I say, in what way is this pleasing to God? Yes, vote. Yes, be activist. But more important than that is to be careful about the things that you say. to make sure that your words are honoring to God. One of the ways in which we are good to everyone in society is to be good in the things that we say about other people, that is not to slander them. But we also want to have a good attitude toward others. And the verse two, again, speaks to our attitude when it says, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate." To be peaceable and considerate. The word peaceable means someone you can make peace with, someone who wants to make peace, not someone who's trying to stir up contention and trying to stir up strife and cause arguments, but rather someone who is seeking a peaceful solution in every situation as much as possible. Now, look, it's not always possible to make peace and we should never sacrifice principle. on the altar of peace. But the truth of the matter is, most of the situations that we encounter in life with Christians and non-Christians could be solved in a peaceable way if we would back down from our pride. And if, like Jesus, the Prince of Peace we sang about already this morning, if we acted toward others in a way that was peaceable, so many problems and contentions in society could at least be discussed in a more productive way, and many of them could be solved if we were peaceable and considerate toward others. Considerate means to think about others in the way that we act, to think about how they'll respond to the words that we use or the actions that we take, to bring into account the consequences of our words and decisions. That's what being considerate means. One of the worst things that could be said about us as Christians is that we care nothing about other people around us, that we care nothing about our society, our community, that we are only in it for ourselves. God tells us if we're going to live in a way that glorifies him in this world, we need to be good to non-believers. And one part of that being good is to be peaceable and considerate toward them. Finally, Paul talks about our actions toward one another. And at the end of verse three, he says, always to be gentle toward everyone. That means that we deal with other people and we deal with them in truth, but we deal with them as gently as possible. That we take into account that we're dealing with a person, a person who has feelings and who has legitimate interests. A person that we are going to interact with again and again, that we take these things into account. As Christians, God wants us to live in this world in a certain way that glorifies him. And you know this. This is not new information to you. But every now and then we need to be reminded about what it means to live like a Christian in a non-Christian world. God's Word reminds us to be good to non-Christians. But as we move forward into verse 3, and really the heart of this passage, Paul begins to lay out for us the basis on which we treat others well. The way or the reason why we should be good toward people around us who are non-believers. And so as we move into verses 3 through 7, We're gonna see next that the good that God wants us to do for non-Christians is based on what God has done for us. Or to put it in another way, we should be good to non-Christians because of God's goodness to us. We should be good to non-Christians because of God's goodness to us. And in telling us to be kind, to be good, to be peaceable, and all these things that he talks about in verses one and two, Paul goes immediately to who we were before we found Christ. And what he reminds us of, first of all, is this. We were good for nothing once. There was a time in our lives when someone would look at us and the way we acted and say, that person is good for nothing. Look with me again at verse three, where Paul lays this out in no uncertain terms. He says, Titus 3.3, at one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. It's not a pretty picture, is it? And yet as unpretty as it is, it's an accurate description of who we were before we came to Jesus Christ. Now, why does Paul go there first? Why does Paul tell us to be kind and peaceable and gentle with other people, and then immediately go to what we were like before Christ? So I think there's a couple of reasons for it, but one of them is this, and it's really important, and that is that we can relate to what non-Christians are going through. If you can remember what your life was like before Christ, and how desperate you were to make your dent in this world, or to make your way in this world, or to provide for yourself in this world, and how fearful you were before Christ. It should at least help you resonate with people around us who aren't Christians, who struggle with these exact types of things. And even if you don't really remember what it was like, because you became a Christian when you were a child, you and I still struggle with the lust of the flesh. You and I still struggle with the pride of life. You and I still struggle. with the same kinds of sinful passions. We're not enslaved to them any longer as we once were and as the unbelieving world around us is. They still hold a certain amount of influence over our thinking and our acting. So one of the reasons that Paul goes here and tells us we should be good to non-Christians because of God's goodness to us is just to remind us in what a desperate state we were in. and how much of our lives were tainted with, if not completely characterized, by evil motives and evil actions toward other people. But we should never excuse the sins of non-believers. God is going to judge them for it, after all. We should never excuse the sins of non-believers. The part of us that is human ought to be able to relate to the motives that cause them to sin. And if nothing else, that ought to help us to be gentle in the way that we respond and the way that we interact with them. As we look at verse 3 and as we break it down a little further, Paul begins to tell us that our character was good for nothing. He says we were good for nothing at one point in our lives, and he tells us that our very character, who we were as persons, was good for nothing. Verse 3 says, at one time we were foolish. We were fools in the way that we thought. That is, we lacked skill in basic life ideas, and especially in the spiritual realm. But he also says we were disobedient. That is, we looked to try to skirt the rules. We looked to try to do our own way, whether there was a law against it, or a rule against it, or whether it was unacceptable in society. We tried to do our own thing and get away with it. He says going on in verse three that we were deceived. That is, we believed the lies of the devil. We believed that asserting our pride would make for a better life for us. That going our own way and doing our own things was the best way to live. And he says we were enslaved by all kinds of passions. The thing that drove our actions were desires for acceptance, desires for approval, desires for greed, for money, desires for sexual pleasure. All of these things were drivers of our lives before we came to Jesus Christ. Our very character was corrupt. And the result of a corrupt character, of course, is corrupt actions. And at the end of verse three, Paul tells us that our relationship style was good for nothing. Our character was good for nothing before we came to Christ, and our style of relating to other people was good for nothing. Look at verse three again. He says, we lived. Okay, this means this was our habitual way of going about life. We lived in malice. That means we had malicious intentions toward other people. We didn't just wish we could have their prestige or have their possessions. We wanted bad things to happen to them for our own pleasure. That's what malice is. He says we lived in malice and envy. We looked at other people and we weren't glad for the good things in their life. We wished it was us instead. He says we were being hated and hating one another. The kinds of angry, contentious, disputatious things that we see online that characterize so many people in our world come naturally to us because we're sinners. And in a very real sense, we were good for nothing. Now, that's not to say that there was nothing good about us, that we had nothing ever that we did was right. The Bible tells us we have the image of God in us and that our conscience sometimes, before we became believers, would cause us to do the right thing. But as a general rule, before we were in Christ, there were many things about us that were displeasing to God, and really offensive to the people around us. And not only that, but because it was our very character, we were always trending in the wrong direction. And so when we think about dealing, now that we've been rescued from that, and we're gonna get to that in a moment, but now that we've been rescued from that as Christians, now that God has changed everything, we need to understand that the unredeemed world around us is still operating by that operating system. It's still following the passions of the sinful nature. It's still trying to grasp everything because it thinks this life is all that there is. And so one of the ways in which, and one of the reasons why we should be good to others who maybe aren't very good to us, whether in the government or just at society as large, is that as sinners, we can relate to them and we know what's driving them. And we know that there's only one cure for what ails them. And it's not a harsh response. It's not moralism. It's the grace of Jesus Christ. At one point in our lives, we were good for nothing, but God changed everything. And so we see next that God was good to us even when we were good for nothing. You see, when the Bible tells us to be kind, to be good to non-believers, it is calling us to reflect. the very character of God, to pattern out and live out in our lives what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. And we come, as we look forward in verse four, we come to this spectacular passage of scripture that describes what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Look with me at verse four, where the scripture says, but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, This tells us that your salvation came only by the unconditional goodness of God. God didn't say, get your act together and then I'll forgive you. God didn't say, clean up your house and clean up your character and change yourself and then maybe I will accept you as my child. No, God's love for us was unconditional. He loved us and his love appeared to us When we were enslaved by those passions, when we were hated and hating one another, everything you have in Christ as a Christian came because of the unconditional goodness of God that we call grace. When you wanted nothing of God, and when I wanted nothing of God in our natural state, God's love appeared to us. through the gospel message. But verse 5 goes on and says what happened when God's love appeared. It says, He saved us. That means because we were enslaved by passions and sins, we were on a trajectory toward the eternal punishment of God in hell. And because of God's unconditional love for us, He grabbed us before we plunged headlong into his judgment. He saved us from the wrath of God for our sins. And again, Paul wants us to understand that the basis of that salvation was not our moral character. It was not our good works or our good intentions. Because he goes on in verse 5 and says, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done. because of his mercy. Mercy is the quality of God or the quality in general of giving something good to someone who deserves evil. We deserve the wrath of God, but God in his mercy withheld his wrath from us and gave us salvation instead. Then Paul describes for us what that salvation did for us, which is it gave us a fresh start. Look at verse five again. It says, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. That phrase, washing of rebirth, is a mixed metaphor. On one hand, it compares the forgiveness of sins that we have to physical washing, just like washing with soap removes the dirt and mud from your body that might be there. The Bible says God has washed us clean of our sins, but it says that washing came through rebirth, and that reminds us of the process of a baby coming into this world. So the metaphor is mixed here. On one hand, we're cleansed, but on the other hand, the cleansing happened when we were born. The intent that Paul is trying to get at here when he says this happened to us through the washing of rebirth is to emphasize for us the new start that we have through the Holy Spirit. And by talking about the new birth, he is saying that God has given birth to us, spiritually speaking. That's why we have a new start. The slate is wiped clean, yes, but we have a new power. We have this new birth within us. The part of us spiritually that was dead in our sins has been made alive by the grace of Jesus Christ. And if you think about when your child, when your children were born, they came into this world naked, screaming, and covered in blood. But what a fresh start they had. nothing but their lives in front of them. Once they were washed and handed over to you, you could think about what their life was going to be like going forward. That's what it's like when God saved us from our sins. It was a fresh start for every one of us, despite what our past was. And all of this happened through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who gave us the new birth. And He is the one who empowers us to live for God. And so at the end when it says, this happened through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, the renewal talks about the new life that we have going forward. And so it was the power of the Spirit that did this for us. But verse six tells us that it came through this salvation, through the sacrifice of Christ for us on the cross. Verse six says, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. How did you get a new birth? How did you get a new start as a Christian? You got it through the atonement of Christ, through his death on the cross for you. His death took away the penalty for your sins that you deserved. And it gave you new standing with God. And so verse six, verse seven goes on to say this. So having been justified, the word justified means declared innocent. That's what Jesus did for us because he died for our sins. When we put our faith in him, God says, I'm declaring you not guilty. because Christ has paid the penalty for your sins. And if you're not here and you're not a Christian, if you're here or you're watching online and you're not a Christian this morning, this is the good news that we have for you. That while you are a sinner and all of us are sinners and guilty before a holy God, God did something that we could never do for ourselves. In the person of Jesus, he died on the cross for our sins. So the Father could say, you are justified. You are not guilty in my presence. But God the Holy Spirit also gives us this new birth. It gives you a fresh start. Let me encourage you, if you're not a Christian, even if you're watching online or if you're here with us this morning, if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ, this is what God is telling you. This is what the offer of the gospel is to you. That what you could never do for yourselves in terms of reformation or reform or revival, God will do for you if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Let me urge you to turn from your sin and receive the gift of salvation in Christ. But Paul goes on in verse 7 to tell us that our salvation gives us hope. beyond this life. Look at verse 7 again where the scripture says, "...so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Why is it that we can be gentle toward people who might not be too gentle to us? Why is it that we can be subject to a government that may not have our best interests at heart always? Why is it that we can be peacemakers in a war-filled world? This is why. Because we have a hope beyond this life. You see, the people around us are the way they are, not only because they have an unredeemed nature, but also because this is all they've got. And so they're grasping for all the power and all the control and all the whatever, the wealth that they can get, because this is it for them, as far as they think. But you and I understand that this life is just a staging area for eternity. This is just an opportunity for us to meet God and serve God so that we can live with God in all of eternity. And one reason why, of the many reasons in this passage, why you and I should be good to non-Christians around us is because God has been so good to us and he promises so much good for us in the future. We don't need to grasp at everything that this life promises or offers to us. We need to live according to the hope of eternal life, which God has promised to those who love Him. And so in the final verse of our text this morning, in verse 8, Paul sums this all up for us when he says this. This is a trustworthy saying. He says, you can live by this. Here's something you can build your life on because it's rock solid and completely permanent. This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to stress these things so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. This is excellent and profitable for everyone. When you and I live right in this world, when we treat non-believers like God treated us, when we're merciful and kind to them, no matter what, everybody benefits from it. And so, the final idea for this message in verse 8 is this. Remember to be good because of God's goodness. For the good of everyone who knows you. That's the big idea for this message as well. That because God has been so good to us, we should be good to others, and as a result, every one of us will benefit from it. Look at the last phrase of verse 8. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. If you think about the way that you live in the world, the things that you say, the things that you write online, are they creating a better environment for us all? Because they are good in the sight of God and they are good to the people around us. Or are we contributing to the hatred, the noise, the problems of the world around us? The Bible tells us that God has done so much for us that is good in Christ. And if we believe that, and if we've been transformed by those truths, We have an obligation, not to the world around us, but to God himself, to be good to others for the good of everyone around us. And so I want to encourage you in these contentious, difficult times in which we live to think about our stance toward the world around us, to think about our actions toward the world around us. And as the people of God, remember to be good because of God's goodness for the good of everyone who knows you. Sometimes we need to be reminded.