Paul instructs Titus, his fellow worker, to appoint qualified elders in Crete who are known for their integrity and strong grasp of sound doctrine. He warns against false teachers who lead others astray with corrupt and selfish motives. In chapter 2, Paul emphasises the importance of teaching sound doctrine to all age groups, encouraging believers to live self-controlled, godly lives that reflect the grace of God. Christian behaviour should make the Gospel attractive, as believers wait for the return of Christ.
'An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless – not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it...
'For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
'These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.' (Titus 1.6-9; 2.11-15, NIV)
Paul teaches the Philippians in 2:12, “Wherefore my beloved, as you have always OBEYED in my presence, and now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Christ-like OBEDIENCE is the key. The original sin of Adam and Eve was DISOBEDIENCE. God said, “Thou shalt not” – and they did! The greatest sin for us as believers is DISOBEDIENCE to God’s Plan.
We have to seek to know what God’s Plan and Purpose is for us. I’ve known almost from birth, from my earliest conscious days, that God had a Plan and a Purpose for my life. And all I’ve tried to do, all my life, is to be OBEDIENT – to hear the call and to go out and do it. It takes an enormous amount of faith, that’s why I seek the Holy Spirit! There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit – but the gift that I asked for above all others is the gift of faith in order to be able to do what God says! In my life, going to Ukraine, going to Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Poland – is only in OBEDIENCE to what God is calling me to do.
My ministry is to OBEY and DO what God says. God is the Strategist, He is the Planner. We’re not the strategists, the planners in spiritual issues – ONLY God knows the strategy. From the beginning when He created the earth, He also knew man would sin. Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the sacrificial Lamb of God, slain for our sins BEFORE the foundation of the world! 1 Pet 1:19- 20; Rev 13:8. BEFORE sin came, Salvation came. Salvation came BEFORE sin! Before you and I sinned, God had made the way of escape. That’s why Jesus had to be OBEDIENT to the Plan which, right from the beginning of Creation, God had made!
So for us also, OBEDIENCE is the key. This is why Paul writes in Phil 2:12, “As you have OBEYED, not only in my presence, but now even more so in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Scripture is clear, and Paul is clear, salvation is not of works, lest we boast, Ephesians 2:9. No, I’m saved because Christ died for me. What I do doesn’t give me salvation, I don’t work my way into the Kingdom of God by all the things I have done, by preaching the Gospel in so many countries around the world, seeing so many miracles of healing. My salvation depends on Christ ALONE and on His OBEDIENCE. But I have to be OBEDIENT to God’s Plan for my life, I have to work it out, as Paul says, with fear and trembling – we have to fulfil God’s Plan for our lives – for it is God who works in us to fulfil His Good Pleasure…
We have to keep ourselves blameless and harmless in the midst of the perversity and sin of the world. “Shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life, so that I may rejoice in the Day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain – though I be offered on the sacrifice of service for your faith.”