honor and serve him. We started a while back going through the book of Titus, one of the small epistles of Paul, a letter written to a young man that was a co-worker of Paul that was sent to Crete to set in order the things that Paul said were lacking in the churches there in Crete. And so Titus was the pastor of the churches, but also training other pastors to serve and lead in those churches. And in our prior messages from the book of Titus, we found that Basically, he was wanting him to bring them up to speed on how they should live, how they should work, how they should worship. And he gave instruction on the selection of elders to lead the churches, gave instruction on dealing with insubordinate people within the churches. instruction on teaching sound doctrine. Believers were taught to renounce ungodliness, to live self-controlled lives, to be actively waiting and yearning for the return of Christ. And in Chapter 3, he continues on with these practical instructions, this list of things that Titus was to ensure was taught in the churches. So if you turn with me to Titus Chapter 3, and we'll go ahead and read through the first portion of it here. 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. It's interesting as we read through that list and in comparison with what Mike read out of Romans chapter one. It's like, wow, this is the direct opposite. He is instructing Titus, make sure that within the churches that the people are taught the opposite of what the world leads them to do. of what this ungodliness leads them to do. And then he says in verse 3, 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. We're going to try and get through that section. And I'm going to tell you ahead of time, that last part, we're not going to get through, we're going to come back and revisit that last part that we read. But the first thing that Paul instructed Titus to make sure was taught in the churches is that we as believers are to be submissive to rulers and authorities. What does it mean to be submissive? Well, the word was previously used with reference to wives and husbands. And as we explained there, it means to rank under or to be placed in a designated position. It's like this is your role, fulfill that role. But in this case, it's written in the middle voice, which I sometimes do the language geek thing on you. But this is the middle voice, which means it's like you do it to yourself. That's the idea with this. And what he's saying is we as believers are to be placing ourselves into this position under the authority of the rulers and authorities that exists, not being forced there by another. That's the difference between the middle voice and the passive voice. Passive is they do it to you. Middle is you do it to yourself. Active is you do it to another. That would be essentially the difference between those things. And Paul is basically saying here is, and I've got the stair-step picture on here, he says essentially, You as believer, take a step down. Place yourself where you belong with reference to these rulers and authorities. Lower your own self-importance. That kind of goes against our human nature, doesn't it? We like to exalt ourselves. We want to raise ourselves up. And the world tells us, exalt yourself. Stand up for yourself. Do these things. And God says, no, humble yourself. Submit. yourselves. Paul gave very similar instructions in Romans chapter 13 verses one through seven, where he said, 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. Now I'm skipping down a little bit. Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Pay to all what is owed to them. Taxes to whom taxes are owed. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed. Honor to whom honor is owed. As we read this and we're told that all of the authorities, the rulers that are in place, they are there by God's decree. And that is a hard thing for us to swallow sometimes, isn't it? As we look at people that we can say, I think they got to that position illegitimately, or I think that they are above their capability, or we say, but they're not morally right, or any number of things, we look at that and we struggle. And yet we have repeated instructions in scripture that we are to submit ourselves, be subject to these governing authorities. And the intent is that we willingly place ourselves under these rulers and authorities because God has set them in place. That's what Paul is saying here in Romans 13. God is the one that put him there. And we say, no, this can't be. God, why would you do this to us? We struggle with it. It doesn't set well with us because we disagree with the morals or the political actions of those that are in power. Do you suppose that when Paul was writing these that he, as well as the believers that he was writing to, struggled with the Roman authorities that they were under? Were they wicked? Were they corrupt? Were they perhaps even there because of maybe they paid off someone to get in the position that they were in and to have Paul say, but they are there because God put them there. That's hard. And yet that's what scripture tells us. And I find it interesting as we think through this concept of being submissive to rulers and authorities, and acknowledging that, as he said, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. Okay, to resist government, to resist the people in the places in government is to resist God. is to resist what the structure that God set in place. We struggle with that, we struggle understanding, but how does this work? And I find it interesting, scanning through the New Testament, nowhere do I find Jesus taking action against secular authorities. Nor does Jesus comment on secular political matters. Looking at the writings of Peter and Paul and James, we find the same thing. They all had very strong words for corrupt religious leaders, but very little to say, other than this kind of thing, about secular leaders, political leaders. They refrained from political talk. Now, whether they engaged in that political talk on the private personal level, one-on-one, we don't know. But as they were addressing the instruction of believers, the extent of their instruction was, honor the king, submit to those in authority, be subject to them. An example that we have is when Paul was brought before the Roman governor Felix in Acts chapter 24. We find Paul speaking very cordially and respectfully to Felix, the Roman governor. He did speak very clearly, unabashedly about righteousness, of self-control, of judgment, as he spoke about his faith in Christ. But he was talking to Felix about an individual need of salvation, not about a cultural, political, social reversal. He stayed within the lines, if you will, of the structure, the government that he was under, and then spoke to the individual. He called Felix to consider Christ. He called Agrippa to consider Christ. He called any authority figure that he spoke to to personally consider Christ for salvation. But he refrained from talking about the political side of that. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said you never find the Apostle Paul or any other apostle commenting upon the government of the Roman Empire. It just was. It's what they had to deal with, had to live with. And the question was, how do you live under it? How do you deal with it. Here in America, we've gotten very accustomed to speaking out and being involved in political activity. And I think that's a good thing. I think it's a right thing for us as individuals to be able to speak out and be a part of the political process. That's proper. But as Christians, we need to be careful how we go about that and where that fits in the context even of the church, if you will. What is the church for? What is it about? Is it is the purpose of the church to bring about a renewal and establishment of a godly government? Or is it about bringing about a renewal and establishment of a God fearing life? If the people are God-fearing, then the people will develop a government that honors God and fears God. What we see in our society currently is the vast majority of people in our country could care less about honoring God. That's just the fact. We are the minority. And our society, our government, reflects that. So how do we live lives to honor God? Under that, well, the first part of it is be submissive to rulers and authorities. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2.17, honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. I find it interesting that he specifically, after saying, well, we should honor everybody, it's just a generic statement, we should respect and honor other people. and then very specifically narrowing the scope within the brotherhood, within the family of believers, we should love one another. And undergirding all of that is we should fear God, because he is the ruler over all. And then he kind of comes back and, and don't you neglect to respect or to honor the emperor. disrespecting another person, whether it be your neighbor, your brother, or a person in a position of authority, disrespecting them does not honor God. And it's something we easily get ourselves tripped up on, that because we disagree with, because we think that they have dishonored themselves, therefore, it's really easy for us to dishonor them ourselves. And yet we're told honor everyone and honor the emperor. Peter's instruction there actually follows on something else that he said. And so what you're going to see here is 217 is going to skip down to the bottom. Here's what came before it. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a coverup for evil, but living as servants of God." And then he says, honor everyone. Love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. As we look at this, one of the things that Peter is telling us here is that by doing good, by being those people who are subject, who are honorable, who are respectful, We put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. We live as servants of God. We demonstrate to others that we are followers of God, that we're different. And we find right in the middle of it, this is the will of God. Ever wondered what is God's will? Well, God's will is be subject for his sake. It's because God is God. And God created this world and created these people and even established the governmental systems. And yes, even allowed nitwits and numbskulls and wicked people to inhabit offices. He says, I want you submit as a testimony for me. I want you to submit to show that you are living as my servants. And that's hard. Because we so often we will say, Yeah, but right. But they're wicked. But they're supposed to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good, but they reversed that. True. That does happen. And it happened in Paul's day. It happened with Paul. It happened with Peter. It happened with James. And it didn't change their responsibility or their response. Paul continues going back to Titus chapter 3 again. He says to be obedient. Notice this is continuing the sentence here. Go back to the beginning of verse one, 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. That's the sentence. It's a continued thought. It's part of the thought of submitting to rulers and authorities. And Paul is saying Christians should be known for obeying the law. We should be model citizens. We should be ready to do good at any moment in any situation, do good to others, even to those who treat you wickedly. Isn't that what Jesus taught us? Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, pray for those who despitefully use you, right? This is what we're supposed to do. Yes, we're going to be ill-treated. Yes, we're going to be under... How else can we describe it? We're under wicked rulers at times. We're still obligated to God for His sake, for His glory, and for whatever He is trying to teach us to submit under this to be obedient and ready for every good work. Notice it says in that fourth line down on the left to speak evil of no one. Now it goes back to focusing our speech, our speech, speak evil of no one. We should refrain from slander. Literally the word is blasphemy. We tend to think in our Christian culture, blasphemy is when you speak ill of God. But that's not the extent of the use of that word in the Bible. We literally can blaspheme one another to speak evil of one another, to slander one another. And we're told here we need to refrain from doing that. We should refrain from quarreling, which how often does a quarrel between people start with words? Words poorly spoken, poorly chosen. And so the need of us to submit our speaking to the obedience of God. within the reference of being subject to those in authority over us and honoring one another, all people, to be gentle with one another, to show this next phrase is to show perfect courtesy toward all people. What does this mean, perfect courtesy? We, does this mean that we all need to be the absolute image of the perfect British butler? You know, I mean, it, take, put that picture in your, your always, you know, have, have this, you know, what is proper and fitting and, and never say an ill word. Is that what he's talking about? The word here for courtesy is prout ace. And Vines dictionary says there is no English word that properly translates this. It just doesn't exist. Oh, thank you. That's very helpful. But what you know, when when we think of and by the way, the word is sometimes translated meekness in the scripture. But when we think of meekness or mildness or courtesy, culturally, too often, that implies weakness, right? To be meek is to be weak. But really, this has nothing to do with weakness. This is describing a condition of the heart, a condition of the mind, a willingness that even though, and think about Jesus, Jesus himself is described as meek and mild, right? Would anybody accuse Jesus of being weak, knowing what the scripture says, knowing who he is, what he's capable of? I mean, he could speak to a storm and tell it, shut up and be quiet. And it had to listen. He could speak to demons and say, go away. And they had to obey. He could have, when he went to the cross, as he said, don't, do you think I could call for a whole host of angels to come? Right? He had absolute utmost power. And yet he chose to refrain from the full expression of that power. for the sake of others. That's kind of this idea of perfect courtesy. It's not weakness, but a desire, a willingness to be soothing, acceptable, kind for the benefit of others. But when we're told here that we ought to show this perfect courtesy, this kindness, this gentleness toward other people, again, I don't want you to lose sight of what all came before. And we're talking about respecting others, submitting to authorities, and yes, even those that are wicked, those that are immoral, those that mistreat us. And we have to ask the question, well, why? And he answers the question, why is it that we're supposed to be obedient, ready for every good work, speak with no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, show perfect courtesy to all people? Why? Because we used to be just like them. 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. Are we any different than the very people that we struggle with? No. So what's different? Why can Paul say, we used to be that way, But to be kind and gentle and obedient and submissive in all of these things, what changed us? Well, this is what we find in verse 4, but. See, we used to be, but what changed? 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. Now that's a really long sentence. And as I said before, I'm not going to unpack this whole thing today, because I want to come back and look more detailed at some of what is spoken in here. But in connection with this previous command of the subject to rulers and authorities to show perfect courtesy, to be gentle, to, to not speak evil of others, et cetera, We should be kind and loving to others even though they don't deserve it because that's exactly what God did for us when we did not deserve it. It is when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared that He saved us. God was kind and loving to us while we were yet sinners. What is the instruction for us regarding rulers and authorities and other people who may be sinners, who may be vile, who may be wicked, who may be mistreating us? Are we to treat them the way God treated us when that was us? That puts a whole other perspective on why are we to be subject? Why are we to speak good of others? Why are we to treat them with respect? It is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance, according to Romans 2.4. Think even back to the very first controversy with God. with mankind, right? Adam and Eve in the garden. Very simple. They disobeyed, right? They were in the wrong. There's no question about that. And after they sinned, even though God had already previously told them, in the day that you eat of that fruit, you will surely die. How did God approach Adam and Eve after they directly disobeyed His command? Did he come stomping and railing into the garden? Where are you? It's time to die. Is that the way God approached Adam and Eve? Or did he even, avoiding the yelling and stomping, just gone? You ate, you're dead, gone, done. Start over again. He didn't do either of those things. How did God approach Adam and Eve who were disobedient, rebellious, sinful? He came into the garden. Adam, Adam, where are you? Adam, why are you hiding? I ate the fruit. Right? Of course, Adam also made the excuse, well, it's her fault. Because he was kind of gutless like so many of us, right? If I can shift that blame just a little bit, so I'm not quite so shamed, right? God was very, very gracious, and loving, and kind with Adam. that didn't do away with the judgment. They still died. They had a long, long lifetime before that physical death overtook them. They were immediately within that realm of what we call spiritual death. They were separated from God in fellowship, but God restored that because how did he do it? He killed an animal. There was death, substitution death for the death they deserved. The blood was shed and it covered their sins. Love covers a multitude of sins. And of course, there was so much that God began teaching and symbolizing through that that we see fulfilled throughout the scriptures. As we find out that Jesus is the lamb of God, and it's his blood ultimately that pays the price of our sins. But God addressed Adam and Eve with goodness, with kindness, which led them to repentance. He dealt with us in that same way to lead us to repentance. And then He commands us, whether it's with rulers and authorities, whether it is with brothers and sisters, neighbors, treat them with honor, with respect. Do good to them. Don't speak evil of them. Give them the same loving kindness that God gave to us for the express purpose of calling them to repentance. giving them the opportunity. Is everyone going to respond to that? No. Has it changed the way God expects us to respond? No. And there's more that we could talk about within this realm of submitting to authorities. We've got even the example of the apostles themselves. When they were commanded not to teach or preach in the name of Jesus, and they said, we must obey what God says, right? We can't disobey God by obeying you. That's where there's a line to be drawn. But even as they disobeyed human authority in order to obey divine command, they submitted themselves to the just punishment that came through the human authorities. Once again, hard things. What Paul was telling Titus here for the church in Crete that has application for us is what we as a body of believers need to be taught goes far beyond just Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Right? It's not just the initial act of salvation, of becoming disciples of Christ, but then living out being disciples of Christ. How does it apply in the daily ins and outs and the ugly mess that is life? And this was the instruction. Well, be obedient, be ready for every good work, speaking of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, show perfect courtesy, because God has changed you. And you have a purpose as a follower of Christ, as his servant as his messenger, to call others to that same salvation, give others that same opportunity of responding, giving them the mercy that God has given to us. And so we're As I said, we'll look more into this next part of verses four and following of what all has God done for us that we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Meantime, because God's been so good to us, let us reflect that goodness. Let us be subject and show that perfect honor that perfect courtesy to others for God's sake, as a testimony for Him to this world. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much that in our sin, You didn't just strike us down, but in Your mercy, You called out to us. You offered salvation. You were good to us. Lord, help us to reflect that goodness to others. We thank you for the salvation that you've given to us. And Lord, we acknowledge that some of these things that we've talked about this morning are hard to do. Sometimes it's even hard to parse through what it means in practical application in the circumstances of our life. We ask that you would give us wisdom, give us grace, but help us to reflect you. to demonstrate by our lives of obedience. We are your children, your servants, your representatives. You've given us a higher calling to represent you to a world that is desperately in need of your salvation. Help us to display it with grace, with willingness, and with love. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to close our service with number 147, How Great Thou Art. We'll stand together. And it is our great God who... He made this whole world to reflect Him, and we are a reflection of Him. We need to display His glory just as His creation does.