A Beautiful Church - Titus 3:1-7

Paul begins with a question that lands right in everyday life: how should Christians live Monday through Saturday in a world that does not follow Jesus? Paul refuses the easy answers of withdrawal, assimilation, or contempt. Paul calls God’s people to remember God’s mercy and show God’s goodness to others.

Paul starts with the normal Christian posture toward rulers and authorities: submission and obedience. Paul does not make government ultimate, because God must be obeyed rather than men whenever human authority commands what God forbids. Paul does make clear that Christians should not spend their lives hunting for exceptions, picking fights, or treating rebellion as faithfulness. Paul calls the church to be ready for every good work, not merely trying to avoid wrong or prove itself right.

Paul widens the circle from rulers and authorities to all people. Paul says, “Speak evil of no one,” avoid quarreling, be gentle, and show perfect courtesy toward all people. Paul presses beyond simple politeness into a humility that refuses to treat another person as beneath them. Paul draws a line between conviction and contempt: Christians can believe someone is deeply wrong without acting as though they are stupid, worthless, or beyond grace.

Paul gives the reason in verse 3: “For we ourselves were once.” Paul does not let Christians divide the world into good people in here and bad people out there. Paul names the old life plainly: foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to passions and pleasures, full of malice, envy, and hatred. Sin turns people away from God and against one another, so the gospel leaves no room for Christian superiority.

God changes everything when His goodness and loving kindness appear. God saves sinners not because of works done in righteousness, but according to His own mercy. God does not offer bad people better advice or a little spiritual rehabilitation. God washes, regenerates, renews, pours out the Spirit richly through Jesus Christ, justifies by grace, and makes sinners heirs of eternal life.

Paul brings mercy back into the church and out into the world. God’s mercy keeps Christians from despairing over people who seem stuck in sin, because the same Spirit who changed them can change others. Christ calls His people to repent quickly of cruel words, proud attitudes, and impossible expectations for others. God’s mercy puts every believer on equal ground: beggars and sinners who have received grace, now called to show that goodness toward all people.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Remember what you once were Paul roots humility in an honest memory of sin. Christians cannot look at foolishness, rebellion, or addiction with superiority when apart from mercy, they were there too. God does not remind His people of their past to shame them, but to break contempt and make room for compassion. [36:08]
• 2. Conviction must not become contempt Paul does not ask Christians to call evil good or truth false. Paul calls Christians to hold convictions without treating opponents as beneath them. God’s image in another person and Christ’s mercy toward sinners should govern words, texts, posts, and private attitudes. [34:15]
• 3. Be ready for every good work Paul calls Christians beyond the thin goal of merely avoiding wrongdoing. God’s people should look for real ways to bless, help, heal, and point others toward Jesus. Being right can become an idol when it keeps a person from actually doing good. [30:43]
• 4. Salvation comes entirely by mercy God saves not because sinners cleaned themselves up, tried harder, or offered Him something worthy. God’s goodness and loving kindness move first toward spiritually dead people. Grace leaves no room for self-congratulation because the ultimate reason for salvation is found in God, not in the believer. [42:20]
• 5. God makes sinners new and heirs God does more than acquit guilty sinners and send them away. The Spirit regenerates and renews, Christ provides justification, and the Father brings His people home as heirs. Eternal life is not earned by improved behavior but received as the inheritance of those saved by grace.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [21:40] - Titus 3:1-7
• [23:50] - Living in a World That Rejects Jesus
• [24:57] - Withdrawal, Assimilation, and Contempt
• [27:14] - Remember Mercy, Show Goodness
• [28:54] - Submission and Good Works
• [31:56] - Courtesy Toward All People
• [34:15] - Conviction Versus Contempt
• [36:08] - Remember What You Were
• [41:32] - God’s Goodness Appeared
• [43:29] - Regeneration, the Spirit, and Justification
• [47:30] - Mercy for the Church and World
• [52:48] - Call Out for God’s Mercy
• [54:13] - Prayer for Gentleness and Humility

Bible Reading

Titus 3:1-7

Verse 1: “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,” [22:18]

Verse 2: “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” [22:27]

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.” [22:37]

Verse 4: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,” [22:50]

Verse 5: “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,” [22:59]

Verse 6: “whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” [23:07]

Verse 7: “so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” [23:09]

Acts 5:29

“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” [30:11]

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Verse 25: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.” [43:59]

Verse 26: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” [43:59]

Verse 27: “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” [43:59]

Titus 2:11

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” [41:49]

Observation questions

1. In Titus 3:1-2, what commands describe how believers should relate to rulers, authorities, and “all people”? Which commands focus especially on speech and conflict? [31:56]
2. What words and phrases does Paul use in Titus 3:3 to describe the believers’ former way of life? What does that list show about the effects of sin on relationships with other people? [36:25]
3. What actions of God are named in Titus 3:4-7, from salvation through becoming heirs of eternal life? [43:29]
4. What connection does Ezekiel 36:25-27 make between cleansing, a new heart, God’s Spirit, and a changed life? [43:59]

Interpretation questions

1. Titus 3:1 gives submission and obedience as the normal Christian posture toward rulers, while Acts 5:29 commands obedience to God above human authority. How can believers recognize the difference between necessary obedience to God and a habit of constantly looking for reasons to resist? [30:04]
2. Paul says believers should be “ready for every good work,” not merely avoid wrongdoing. What does this suggest about the difference between being known for being right and being prepared to do real good for others? [30:38]
3. How does Paul’s phrase, “For we ourselves were once,” give the reason for gentleness and courtesy toward people living in sin or holding deeply different convictions? [37:13]
4. Titus 3:5 says God saved His people “not because of works done by us in righteousness.” How do regeneration, the gift of the Spirit, justification by grace, and becoming heirs show that salvation is God’s work from beginning to end? [45:01]

Application questions

1. Where are you most tempted toward withdrawal, assimilation, or contempt when you encounter people who do not follow Jesus—at work, online, in your neighborhood, or in your family? What might it look like to show God’s goodness in that setting? [24:57]
2. Think about a recent conversation, post, text, or private comment about a political leader, coworker, church member, or family member. Did your words show conviction without contempt? What would gentleness and “perfect courtesy” have sounded like? [34:42]
3. Is there a person you have begun to think of mainly as foolish, difficult, or beyond change? How does remembering “we ourselves were once” reshape the way you see and pray for that person? [37:27]
4. What is one specific good work you could be ready to do this week—meeting a need, healing a hurt, encouraging someone, serving quietly, or helping someone take a step toward Jesus? [30:33]
5. When you are tempted to feel superior because of your choices, knowledge, or spiritual progress, what part of Titus 3:3-7 most helps you remember that you were saved by mercy rather than by your own righteousness? [42:36]
6. Is there someone whose spiritual condition causes you to despair or give up hope? How does the Spirit’s power to regenerate and renew give reason to keep praying, loving, and speaking with patience? [49:03]
7. Are there cruel words, proud attitudes, or unfair expectations toward another person that need repentance? What would it look like to turn from them quickly and receive God’s mercy afresh? [51:07]