Titus 3:14-15
“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.“
Titus 3:14-15 NIV
What you do has value. You are valuable, beautiful, wonderful, worthy, and saved by Your creator. What wonderful words are these that define who we are.
God in His Word is calling us to open our eyes to urgent need. He’s telling us to devote ourselves to good works in order to help in cases of urgent need. I certainly see on a global scale, obviously I don’t know what’s going on in your specific life and your specific community, but on a global scale when I see places where there’s no gospel in the world, that’s urgent need.
There’s people right now that are dying and going to an eternity separated from God who’ve never even heard about the gospel. That’s urgent need. People who don’t have the gospel, people who don’t have water, like clean water, that’s urgent need. Think about places where there’s no food, where starvation is a reality. People don’t just casually say, “Oh, I’m starving!” because they want a meal. That’s actually a reality. People are starving to death. That’s urgent need.
I think about orphans who don’t have a family. That’s urgent need. I think about people who are slaves around the world and every day they are being abused, mistreated, and broken. That’s urgent need.
We can obviously get overwhelmed thinking about the urgent needs of others. There’s a sense in which we should be overwhelmed in a way that drives us to devote ourselves to good works in a world of urgent need.
Pleasing God can only take place when we are in a right relationship with God. So Jesus has redeemed us from all lawlessness and has purified us for Himself in order to do good works. Doing good works then springs from our redemption and purification. Good works do not just happen. We must learn what pleases God and we must be obedient to that.
Verse 14 says let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help in cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. Devoting yourself to good works can only happen if you know what those works are. Simply put, it means that everything that pleases God could be worked out as a good work.
Ultimately everything we do is to be for God’s glory and nothing else. The word ‘learn’ is the word that implies being a disciple. Disciples do what pleases the master or teacher, and disciples emulate their master or teacher. They follow their teachers. They learn from them. They see what they do and then they do it.
The Christians on the island of Crete would learn from Titus who learned from Paul. Our actions let alone our words speak volumes. Our behavior is always on display. Both hypocrites and non-hypocrites are aware of this. Hypocrites get tired of playing the game. They opt-out or are found out.
God didn’t give concrete rules and regulations to the first churches and He won’t give them to us. He has given us the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts. Paul’s final words are familiar and yet no less profound, “Grace be with you all.”This is a loaded statement and a perfect way of concluding this letter.
With so much emphasis on good works and sound teaching it could be easy to fall into the trap of human achievement. Our growth in Christ and maturity in our faith is no less a work of God’s grace than our initial conversion. We are called to obey but are only able to obey by God’s grace alone.
He has given us His Spirit to lead and guide us and that is enough. If our hearts have been cleansed and renewed then God is able to guide and direct us. So we too will be able to say about the decisions we make, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us!!!
Father, thank You for this day and the promises we can stand on in Your Word. Lord, open the storehouses of Your abundant blessings and let them fall upon my friend and family today. Lord, we pray that we would be a fruitful people who are helping cases of urgent need for the glory of Your Name. Lord, we pray for help in their physical and spiritual needs today. Lord, we pray the fruit of our lives resound to Your glory, Your grace, Your provision, Your love and Your mercy being poured out in cases of urgent need through the good works You call and invite us to do.
Father, we love You. Amen
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