Titus 3 tells us:
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. (Titus 3:1-2)
There are so many passages like this in the New Testament, passages that draw a particular picture of the Christian. I admit that it is a picture I don't live up to. I also admit that many American churches don't teach this particular picture of the Christian.
One of the beautiful things about this passage is how, after drawing the picture of the Christian here - the submissive, obedient, ready for every good work, speaking evil of no one, non-quarreling, gentle and perfectly courteous Christian - Paul goes on to tell us why he asks us to be this way:
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. (Titus 3:3)
We are asked to be this way because of what we once were - foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, and hating others and being hated by others. (This convicts me! Too often I'm still like this. God help me!)
And Paul pushes the point further still:
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. (Titus 3:4-7)
We were saved when we were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, and hating others and being hated by others. We were not saved when we were submissive, obedient, ready for every good work, speaking evil of no one, non-quarreling, gentle and perfectly courteous people.
It is encouraging to me that Paul tells Titus to "remind them" to be the right way. (Am I fooling myself to assume that this means that they, too, had not discovered how to really live this way yet?) When Jesus came to save us we were not living the way that Paul tells Titus to "remind them" to be. We are saved apart from living the right way and yet Paul encourages us to become what we should be. This encouragement does not come from the threat of punishment but rather from the thought that God saved us while we were "dead in our trespasses" (Ephesians 2:5). The fleshly part of me responds, "Why be good if I was saved when I was evil?" But the motivation here is love, not fear. I love the Lord who saved me and so I want to please him. He is pleased if I do the acts of a servant, if I become a submissive, obedient, ready for every good work, speaking evil of no one, non-quarreling, gentle and perfectly courteous Christian and so this is what I strive to become.
