The Book of Titus - Part 2

Little children play a game called Follow the Leader. One child is chosen to be the leader and whatever that child does or goes, the rest have to do and follow. So if the leader is moving their arms like this, the other children have to move their arms like this. If the leader child is spinning around, the other children have to do the same. It's a game for fun, but also teaches on leadership and following. It's kind of a fun thing, but also in life, adults do the same thing. We look to our leaders to be examples for us, not only examples in practical life, but examples in spiritual life. How to conduct ourselves, how to solve problems in decision making. Paul the Apostle was a great example. He's one of the most important people in the Christian history. He wrote much of the New Testament epistles and he was a great communicator. He could talk to the king, he could also talk to the beggar. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a man who was detailed and perfect in everything, came from a good family, good education, and yet his heart's desire was to destroy Christians because he thought they were against God. On the Damascus road, Jesus met him. He was riding his horse and a bright light shone from heaven and Paul fell off of his horse and a voice came from heaven and said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Lord, who are you? He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Saul was also known as Paul, and more prominently his name was called Paul later on. From that point onwards, his life would never be the same. He would no longer be the great persecutor of the church. He would be the great proclaimer of Jesus and God's love. Many people did not trust Paul, especially when he became a follower of Christ. One of the only people that trusted him was Barnabas. Barnabas was called the son of encouragement. All of us need a friend or we should be a friend of an encouraging nature. Barnabas picked up Paul and mentored Paul in the faith. Later on, Paul would pick up Timothy, also Titus and others that he would have in the ministry with him and would example the faith before him. Paul wrote many letters, Timothy, Titus, Philemon and many others, giving instruction to individuals and the churches in how to follow the Lord in godliness and behavior. Paul, writing to Titus with the purpose of setting some things in order in the local church there, he starts his letter by explaining that he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ and he tells us about this hope that we have in Christ Jesus, which God promised before time began, bringing about this loving plan of God into action, which we see in Jesus Christ. Paul continues and he says this letter is addressed to Titus in verse 4, to Titus, my true son in our common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul tells Titus that, Titus, this letter is for you. I'm writing this to give you some instructions, but it's interesting that Paul would say, Titus, my true son in our common faith. Paul did not simply see Titus or Timothy or some of the others as simply co-workers in the ministry, but he saw them as his own spiritual children. It's a great challenge for us, especially as older believers, if we have been walking with the Lord for a very long time. Two things should mark our life. One is as we get older, we become sweeter and sweeter, not more sour. Too many times as people get older, they become hard-hearted, they revert back to how they used to think and become very angry and impatient. Rather, an older person should be gentle, happy, peaceful, encouraging, patient, someone that people love to hang around. And second is they should always be looking for those younger than them to mentor them and help them. Mentoring is not simply giving instruction. That is part of mentoring. But mentoring means you example life and spirituality before them. You have them come alongside of you. You spend time with them. You cannot mentor without patience and time. Jesus, we read, called his disciples and said, come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Come and be with me and I will mentor you into what God would have you to do. Barnabas mentored Paul. It took time. Paul mentored Timothy and Timothy eventually took over the ministry for Paul after Paul was executed in Rome by beheading. Joshua was mentored by Moses. Elijah mentored Elisha. You see this over and over again that godly men and women will mentor others, not only an example of practical life, but spirituality and in godliness. And Paul is not simply writing this to say something nice and to use some nice words, but he really does mean this to Titus. Titus, my true son in our common faith, grace and peace to you from God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ. My brother, my sister, each of us who know the Lord intimately should be looking to encourage others, especially if we are older in age and also older in our walk with God. We should be looking for others to mentor. Like Paul, who would say in 1 Corinthians 11, follow me as I follow Christ. See Christ in me and follow that example. We should not think that the older we get, the more isolated we should be. In fact, we should be passing down how to follow the Lord and godliness and spirituality and encouraging young people. I have been around some older people, both grandmothers and grandfathers, who are amazing examples of godliness and gentleness and kindness. It's amazing how young people love to be with older people if they exhibit godliness and patience. Young people will always do stupid things. Every generation has their own set of things and every time technology changes, we find that everyone is into certain things and oftentimes the older people will get annoyed with that. But you find once in a while a very godly grandmother, grandfather, who is very patient with young people and lets them do their stupid things and say dumb things and yet spends time with them because they see the opportunity to bless them and consider them almost like their own children. Very often you will hear someone say, that is my spiritual mother, that is my spiritual father, referring to the person who gave spiritual input into their life. We should be looking. Do you have a list of names that we pray for every single day? You should have a list of people's names that you are praying for salvation, that they would encounter Christ and Christ would come into their life and their sins would be forgiven and you should have a list of names that you are praying for, for God to do a work in their life, maybe call them into the ministry, maybe your own children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, whoever that is. But your other list should consist of people that you are praying for and when you meet any of them, you must take time and be patient and look for opportunities to bless them and help them in growing in the Lord. Do you realize that even spending time with them will change them? Paul not only tells Titus that he is a true son in their common faith and he sees him as his son, almost more so than a real blood son, because of the common faith and hope that they have in Christ Jesus. What this means is that anyone who is part of the body of Christ does not matter what denomination, what church, if we both love Jesus Christ, have been saved by Jesus Christ dying on the cross for us, we have repented of our sins and follow the Lord, we are brothers, we are sisters, we are one family. Our doctrinal differences and our understanding of certain scriptures might be a little bit different, but we are brothers. There's a statement, blood is thicker than water, actually means that when it comes to friends or family, family takes precedence. But even more than blood is thicker than water is our spiritual brothers and sister are more so family than even our physical family. This has nothing to do with rejecting our family, it means when Jesus said to his disciples at that last supper together, after washing their feet, he said a new command I give to you, love one another as I have loved you, by this all men will know that you are my disciples. What that means is if we love our brothers and sisters and we recognize that we have a common faith, a common reason that we are part of the body of Christ, Jesus himself, then I can love you and serve you and the testimony will be this, how they love one another. Just like the Romans who sent spies into the new Christian churches to find out if they were doing something against Rome or the emperor. And the spies would come back and say there is nothing that they are doing wrong, but see how they love one another. Many times people's lives are drawn to Christ simply by our love for one another and our kindness to those around us. This does not mean that we should neglect purposefully sharing our faith with others or telling people of the hope that we have in Christ, but also our life should be a life of kindness and love and blessing others. And Paul tells Titus, you are my true son in the faith, you are more family than family and I love you. And because I am like your father, I'm going to give you some instructions and you need to listen. See Paul's life was a life that he had a good relationship with Titus and Titus would listen to him because of this. Do we as believers who are either older in age or older in our walk with God, do others trust us? Do we have a habit of always correcting but never encouraging? Do we have a habit of always criticizing and never praising? Do we have a habit of always seeing the negative and never seeing the positive in their life? Do we always have a habit of seeing people's failures rather than encouraging them when they are successful? See, a godly, patient, kind, older person, either older in age or older in faith, will see and recognize God's potential in their life. One thing I like to do is watch gymnastics on TV and because I had the experience of for many years being in gymnastics, in competitive gymnastics, I will watch sometimes the routine of these events that will happen on TV, especially before the Olympics, and I can see great potential in some of these athletes. More than me will be their own coaches. But simply from my experience of being in gymnastics, I see things that most other people would not see unless they were in gymnastics themselves. How they perform on the beam or the rings or the uneven bars or on the floor or the vaults. Certain things will be telltale signs saying, man, this person has incredible ability and as their coach begins to help them and train them, you see that come out in the Olympics even. Those that are older in the Lord and know the Lord intimately, because of their walk with God and their experience, when they see younger people, they can see past the stupidity and the dumb things they do or think and they can see the potential that is there. It's like someone who is in the trade of diamonds or precious stones. They will pick up a rock that looks ordinary to someone else, but they see great potential in that stone. And as they cut off all the dirt and the rock and everything else and they get down to the precious jewel and they polish it and they cut the facets and they make it perfect and make sure there's no cracks or lines or flaws, it becomes precious. Why? Because the Jewelsmith was able to see potential when no one else was. Paul saw potential in Timothy and Titus and Philemon and so many others and part of his ministry in life was mentoring others. Do you have a list? A list of those that you are praying for God to bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? And do you have a list of those you are praying for and looking for opportunities to mentor? If you don't, make that list today and begin praying every day, Lord, give me an opportunity to share my faith with this list of people and give me the opportunity to share my experience and encouragement with this list of people. Bless them, Lord. Don't pray about them, but pray for them. Don't pray about the problems you see, but pray for the potential to happen in their life. This is what parents must also do in mentoring their children. Don't see only the problems, see the potential. And remember this, if you are my brother or sister in the faith, you are closer to me than my own family. It doesn't mean I reject my family. It simply means I must acknowledge that we are part of the same spiritual family. And Jesus said, if we love one another with genuine respect and honor, it will become a witness for the whole world to see that Jesus is Lord. Paul continues to explain. He says, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. Very often you see Paul putting grace and peace or grace and hope, all these different words. If you notice, it is only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ provided for us through Him dying on the cross that we experience the peace of God in our life. Very often we think of grace as God overlooking our sins and failures. And yes, it is. But the grace of God in our life that comes through Jesus Christ, our Lord, is this. God does not give up on us. It is not simply an overlooking of our sin, but it is helping us to become victorious in our Christian life. Too many Christians are simply looking to somehow cross the finish line in the race. They're not running to win the race. That's one of the differences you see in competition, is there are those who just want to finish the course, and there are those who really, really want to win, and they will do whatever it takes. When you think about the grace of God, it is, yes, God forgives us, but then He says, I will stand with you, and I will help you to overcome. I will not let you give up. The other day, my son was learning to swim, and the swimming teacher was teaching him how to move his arms and his legs, and they had this little floaties, and of course, he holds onto it and kicks his legs, and so you want to learn to move your arms, and you want to learn to kick your legs. The worst thing you can do is panic, because when you panic, you freeze, and you stop moving, and you just sink in the water. Of course, even if you drink a little water, it's not going to hurt you. It's okay. But what happened to my son is he was holding onto that floaty, that foam piece, and he was kicking, and somehow he let go of that, and he sunk in the water, not too deep, it was just in front of us, and he started drinking some water, and you could see him under the water, and of course, it looked very frightening. The teacher pulled him up, and he's coughing out all this water. He was fine, no problem. Instead of him being allowed to go run back to his mother and father for comfort, and it's okay, don't worry, the teacher said, let's try again. And the teacher was very wise, because if the teacher allowed my son to run back to us, and cry, and weep, and we comfort him, he will be too scared to go back in the water. Instead, the teacher said, and we also encouraged him and said, Jonah, go, listen to your teacher, you're doing good. Get back on the floaty, and kick your legs, and she stood right there with him, gave him the confidence that he needed, so that he could try again. And so he did it, and this time, even though he went into the water, drank a lot of water, came out coughing, he had the confidence, because the teacher was with him, and eventually, he had the courage to do it by himself again. This is what God does in our life. When we fail, and we sin, yes, he forgives us. He overlooks that, because he forgives, and remembers it no more, but then he doesn't just simply say, okay, good, continue. He says, let's continue together. Let's keep walking together. The grace of God is that not only he brings salvation to our life, and not only does he forgive our sins every time we fail, but he walks with us. Jesus said, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. The Holy Spirit was sent to be our comforter, and to abide with us, and to empower us to live this Christian life. It is through the grace of God that came through Jesus Christ that we have the peace of God. Grace and peace go together. And Jesus said, peace I leave unto you, not as the world gives, but a lasting peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding. My brother, my sister, look for those to mentor. Look for those to encourage. Every single day, you should be looking for people to encourage, and bless, and serve. Especially if you are older in the faith, and older in age, your life should become sweeter and sweeter. Think about this. The most costly wines are the ones who had a lot of time to mature, and they are very precious. The older a person gets, the sweeter and more precious they should become. If you find that there is impatience in your life, and you always see the negative, and you find it very hard to encourage other people, then today, pray and ask the Lord to change that character. You know, there's a statement, you can't teach old dogs new tricks. True, but we're not talking about dogs. We're talking about people, and people empowered by God, and if you pray, God can change you. There is no excuse, even in older age, that God cannot change my character. If that's the case, we must pray, and ask the Lord to help us. Let's pray right now, and ask God to help us encourage, mentor, and bless other people. Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. We ask that you would help us as we look for people to mentor, as we help young people to learn godliness through our life's example. Help us to be faithful in our older age, to use that respect, and to use that position to help those who are coming up in the faith. Help us to overlook people's stupidity, and to see the potential in their life. I ask for your blessings upon each of my brothers and sisters. In Jesus' name, amen. Remember, the Bible has the answers for life, and God's promises always comes true. If you have a prayer request, or a question about life or the scriptures, please write or call to us, and we would be happy to pray for you, or to answer your questions in one of our programs. May the Lord bless you, as you experience His grace and peace in your life today.