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Titus 2:6-15 - What Being A Christian Means · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey they're faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible
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  Speaker 1: Explained Podcast. We're in Titus chapter two today, finishing up
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  Speaker 1: this chapter talking about what being a Christian actually means,
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  Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people don't quite understand.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there's so many people that say, oh, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I'm a Christian because they were a raised
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  Speaker 1: Christian or because they go to church. But being a
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  Speaker 1: Christian is far more than just saying that you are
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  Speaker 1: a Christian and going to church every week. It's a
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  Speaker 1: commitment that you make, and we're going to get into
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  Speaker 1: that today on the podcast. So I hope you guys
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  Speaker 1: had a really good weekend and start to your week
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  Speaker 1: so far. This past weekend was very, very busy for
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  Speaker 1: me because it was our winter retreat for the kids,
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  Speaker 1: and since my husband is the main youth leader and
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  Speaker 1: i'm his second in command, it's our busiest week of
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  Speaker 1: the entire year because we have to coordinate all of
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  Speaker 1: the students. We've got to make sure that you know,
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  Speaker 1: teenagers don't you know, run off somewhere and die. We
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  Speaker 1: have to, you know, watch everybody like a hawk. And
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  Speaker 1: I got almost no sleep the first night I was
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  Speaker 1: at the winter retreat, because you know, you're on those
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  Speaker 1: little camp beds and they're the most uncomfortable things on
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  Speaker 1: the planet, Like they're made out of I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: boards or palettes, I'm not sure, but they are not comfortable.
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  Speaker 1: And so I was sitting there with my eyes wide
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  Speaker 1: open and there's like this exit sign just like shining
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  Speaker 1: down on my bed that was distracting me the entire night.
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  Speaker 1: And then everybody's snoring because we're all in this little
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  Speaker 1: room together, and uh, yeah, I don't mean to complain
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  Speaker 1: too much, but I didn't get any sleep. The first night.
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  Speaker 1: The camp was amazing. It was a lot of fun
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  Speaker 1: and the kids got a lot of really good time together,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of time to connect with each other, and
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  Speaker 1: also some good messages from the camp director who also
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  Speaker 1: preached while we were there. Not to mention the worship
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  Speaker 1: music was absolutely amazing. They did a great job with
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  Speaker 1: it and I really really loved it. So we had
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  Speaker 1: a fantastic time this weekend. I had to come home
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  Speaker 1: early because I had to lead worship at my church,
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  Speaker 1: so unfortunately I missed a lot of the things that
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  Speaker 1: were going on Sunday morning at the camp, but very
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  Speaker 1: busy weekend, and so now I'm still in recovery mode.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't mean to talk about myself the whole time.
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  Speaker 1: It's just an exciting weekend that I always like to
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  Speaker 1: share with you guys. But of course, always feel free
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  Speaker 1: to reach out and tell me what you guys are
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  Speaker 1: up to. And also, if you have a prayer request,
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  Speaker 1: I will write you down my little prayer journal and
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  Speaker 1: pray for you for the week. But let's go ahead
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  Speaker 1: and read Titus chapter two. But before we get into
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  Speaker 1: this passage, here's a quick word from a sponsor. All right,
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  Speaker 1: fay for listeners, go ahead and grab your bibles and
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  Speaker 1: your cups of coffee or your cups of tea, and
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  Speaker 1: let's go ahead and read Titus chapter two, six through fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the web as usual. Likewise, Exhort
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  Speaker 1: the younger men to be sober minded in all things,
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  Speaker 1: show yourself an example of good works in your teaching.
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  Speaker 1: Show integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility, and soundness of speech that can't
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  Speaker 1: be condemned. That he who opposes you may be ashamed,
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  Speaker 1: having no evil thing to say about us. Exhort servants
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  Speaker 1: to be in subjection to their own masters and to
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  Speaker 1: be well pleasing in all things, not contradicting, not stealing,
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  Speaker 1: but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of God, our Savior in all things, for the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
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  Speaker 1: instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
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  Speaker 1: we would live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age,
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  Speaker 1: looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory
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  Speaker 1: of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave
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  Speaker 1: himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
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  Speaker 1: iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession.
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  Speaker 1: Zealous for good works, say these things, and exhort and
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  Speaker 1: reprove with all authority. Let no one despise you. Looking
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  Speaker 1: at verse six, I realized that I probably should have
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  Speaker 1: talked this verse last week when we discussed how Titus
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to interact with different people in the church. Specifically,
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  Speaker 1: he was supposed to teach the older men and also
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  Speaker 1: the older women. And now it says likewise, exhort the
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  Speaker 1: younger men to be sober minded. So the only group
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  Speaker 1: of people Titus was not supposed to teach directly, we're
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  Speaker 1: actually the younger women. That was left up to the
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  Speaker 1: older women, And we talked about all of that on
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  Speaker 1: Thursday of last week's episode. So Titus was not supposed
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  Speaker 1: to teach the younger women because that could get messy
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  Speaker 1: very quickly. An older man teaching a younger woman one
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  Speaker 1: on one over an extended period of time. That is
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  Speaker 1: just not healthy behavior and it causes a lot of trouble,
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  Speaker 1: as we know based upon the amount of sex scandals
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  Speaker 1: that happened with pastors in the United States all the time.
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  Speaker 1: So that is why Paul does not tell Titus to
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  Speaker 1: teach the younger women. He's not supposed to. But he
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  Speaker 1: can teach the younger men, even though the older men also,
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  Speaker 1: we're supposed to teach the younger men as well, But
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  Speaker 1: specifically he tells Titus to exhort the younger men to
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  Speaker 1: be sober minded. Now, the idea of being sober minded,
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  Speaker 1: we talked about it a little bit on Thursday. But
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  Speaker 1: not only would this be abstaining from alcohol and other
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  Speaker 1: substances that would alter your mind. Being sober minded essentially
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  Speaker 1: comes down to having a strong mind, not being swayed
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  Speaker 1: all the time, with every new belief that is told
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  Speaker 1: to you, but believing firmly in the truth, searching for
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  Speaker 1: the truth if you don't know what the truth is,
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  Speaker 1: and also maintaining the faith. That is what sober minded means,
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  Speaker 1: just having a strong mind, and that was what Titus
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to train these younger men in, to teach
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  Speaker 1: them to be sober minded. And then in verse seven,
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  Speaker 1: he says, in all things, show yourself as an example
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  Speaker 1: of good works. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, incorruptability,
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  Speaker 1: and soundness of speech that can't be condemned. So Titus
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  Speaker 1: could teach any person he wants to. He could be
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  Speaker 1: the best teacher on the planet. But if he is
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  Speaker 1: not living what he is teaching, then he could be
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  Speaker 1: the best teacher in the world. But people wouldn't listen
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  Speaker 1: to him because they realize that he's hypocritical. If he
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  Speaker 1: can't even follow what he's teaching, why should anybody else
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  Speaker 1: follow it. So Paul says, it is very important, Titus,
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  Speaker 1: for you to be an example of good works, an
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  Speaker 1: example of your teaching. He says, in your teaching, show integrity,
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  Speaker 1: show seriousness, show incorruptibility. So make sure everything you preach
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  Speaker 1: and teach is the truth. Have integrity with your teaching.
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  Speaker 1: Teach with seriousness, so not in an irreverent or joking
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  Speaker 1: kind of way, which honestly I have seen that before.
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  Speaker 1: You know, specifically with youth leaders, I think they try
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  Speaker 1: to be really relatable and sometimes their messages come across
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  Speaker 1: very irreverently. I remember when I was in high school,
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  Speaker 1: I went on an ad win a retreat and one
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  Speaker 1: of the female teachers that I had told me, she's like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, God, he can handle any prayer that we
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  Speaker 1: give him, and he's not going to get offended with
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  Speaker 1: anything that you say, and so you can basically tell
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  Speaker 1: him exactly what is on your heart. And then she
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  Speaker 1: gives this example. She's like, sometimes I just tell God, yo, dude,
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  Speaker 1: what is up with you? Like why would you do
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  Speaker 1: this to me? And like that was her example. But
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  Speaker 1: the thing was she was trying to come across as
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  Speaker 1: very relatable to me, but it just ended up being
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  Speaker 1: really tone deaf. So relatability doesn't mean being irreverent or
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  Speaker 1: joking a lot in your sermons. You got to have
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  Speaker 1: a seriousness with what you are presenting. And he says,
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  Speaker 1: also have a soundness of speech that can't be condemned. So,
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  Speaker 1: in other words, Titus needs to know what he's talking about.
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  Speaker 1: He needs to know the scriptures so that when somebody
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  Speaker 1: comes forward to say, oh, that's not actually what the
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  Speaker 1: scriptures say, or oh that prophecy you're talking about doesn't
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  Speaker 1: really mean that, Titus can go back to the scriptures
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  Speaker 1: and be like, well, actually, yes it does. And ultimately
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  Speaker 1: when that happens, the people who oppose Titus are going
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  Speaker 1: to be shamed, is what Paul says. He says that
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  Speaker 1: he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil
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  Speaker 1: thing to say about us. So Titus needs to live
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  Speaker 1: in a way that reflects what he teaches, and he
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  Speaker 1: also needs to teach in a way that is reverent
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  Speaker 1: and truthful, and he also needs to know his stuff.
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  Speaker 1: So this is important for any single person who teaches
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  Speaker 1: the Bible to somebody else. So if anybody listening to
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  Speaker 1: this podcast, if you are a Sunday school teacher, or
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  Speaker 1: if you teach teenagers, or if you have a podcast
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  Speaker 1: of your own, or any other type of Bible teaching
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  Speaker 1: that you do, even to your own kids, you should
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  Speaker 1: follow these guidelines that Paul lays out for Titus, because
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  Speaker 1: if you do, the people you are teaching are going
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  Speaker 1: to connect with you a lot more because they're going
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  Speaker 1: to see that you are sincere with what you are
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  Speaker 1: teaching and that you follow it yourself. So you must
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  Speaker 1: really believe it, because showing that you believe something is
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  Speaker 1: not just teaching it, it's also following it yourself. Just
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  Speaker 1: as you wouldn't want to follow a health coach that
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  Speaker 1: pretends to live this wonderful lifestyle but secretly you know
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  Speaker 1: is taking a whole bunch of drugs to make themselves
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  Speaker 1: skinnier or more buff, and then eating a whole bunch
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  Speaker 1: of junk at night. You would be offended if you
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  Speaker 1: found all of that out. If you're actually listening to
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  Speaker 1: all of their advice, you'd be like, well, you can't
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  Speaker 1: even follow the advice you give, so you must not
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  Speaker 1: actually believe it. The same goes for Titus and his
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  Speaker 1: presentation of the Gospel message. Then moving on to verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: it says exhort to servants to be in subjection to
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  Speaker 1: their own masters, and to be well pleasing in all things,
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  Speaker 1: not contradicting, not stealing, but showing all good fidelity that
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  Speaker 1: they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
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  Speaker 1: all things. Now, again, just because Paul mentioned slavery does
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  Speaker 1: not mean he is for slavery. In fact, the Christians
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  Speaker 1: themselves were the ones that got rid of slavery. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I've mentioned this before, but Christianity is what ultimately undid
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  Speaker 1: slavery because with Christianity, every person is equal in the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of God. And so when Paul was writing about
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  Speaker 1: slaves in the Old Testament, how slaves can go to
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  Speaker 1: church with their masters and be on equal footing and
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  Speaker 1: even possibly be above their masters in some ways at
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  Speaker 1: the church because you know, a slave, if he is
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  Speaker 1: a good and honorable person, he could potentially become an
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  Speaker 1: elder of his church. So in that way, when the
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  Speaker 1: master and the slave are together at church, actually the
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  Speaker 1: slave has authority over the master. Which is why the
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  Speaker 1: Christians were the ones who are part of the abolitionist movements,
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  Speaker 1: was because they understood that everybody is equal in the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of God. Half of the Roman world at this
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  Speaker 1: time consisted of slaves. That was like fifty percent of
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  Speaker 1: the population at this point were slaves. You know, Paul
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  Speaker 1: was really worried about spreading the Gospel message. Ultimately that
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  Speaker 1: would be the best form of eventually getting rid of
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  Speaker 1: slavery is by having people become Christians and understanding at
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  Speaker 1: that point that there is no slave or free any
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  Speaker 1: longer when you become a Christian, and that was really
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  Speaker 1: the best way to dismantle slavery. But yet Paul often
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  Speaker 1: tells the slaves and the bond servants that they need
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  Speaker 1: to obey their masters, and he says the word obey,
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  Speaker 1: which means to listen to what they tell you to do.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason Paul told the slaves to do this
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  Speaker 1: was because they had a purpose for being a slave. Specifically,
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  Speaker 1: if these slaves were Christians, their purpose was to spread
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel through their lives, and through what they did,
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  Speaker 1: they were supposed to shine the light. And if these
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  Speaker 1: slaves became obedient and a humble and kind to their masters,
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  Speaker 1: you can imagine that that would make the master take notice,
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  Speaker 1: like what changed in my slave? Why is he all
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden so obedient and kind and respectful to me?
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  Speaker 1: So being a slave was a way to shine the
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  Speaker 1: light of Jesus to the family that you were serving.
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  Speaker 1: That's why Paul says, exhort the servants. So in other words,
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  Speaker 1: encourage the servants to be in subjection to their own
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  Speaker 1: masters and to be well pleasing in all things, not contradicting,
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  Speaker 1: so not talking back, not stealing, which, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: in Paul's day, it was so common for slaves to
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  Speaker 1: steal that sometimes the word slave and thief were used interchangeably,
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  Speaker 1: so people actually thought of slaves generally being thieves or
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  Speaker 1: people who would just pilfer from the master all the time.
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  Speaker 1: That's why Paul brings that up here, don't steal from
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  Speaker 1: your masters, but showing all good fidelity that they may
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  Speaker 1: adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior in all things.
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  Speaker 1: So there you go. They're supposed to adorn the doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: adorn the gospel message meaning put it on, meaning show
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  Speaker 1: it off, make it beautiful to other people. And the
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  Speaker 1: slaves could do this by obeying their masters and being
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  Speaker 1: kind and considerate. Because here's the thing. Yes, obviously God
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  Speaker 1: loves the slave, he loves the poor, he loves the marginalized,
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  Speaker 1: but he also loves the master, and he also loves
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  Speaker 1: the politician, and he also loves the billionaire and all
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  Speaker 1: these other people that society generally looks down on. God
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  Speaker 1: loves everybody because He's created every single human being. God
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  Speaker 1: wants every person to come to salvation, not to perish.
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  Speaker 1: And that's why Paul focuses his attention on these masters,
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  Speaker 1: because God also loves them, even if they own the slaves.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing. This isn't just for Paul's day
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  Speaker 1: and age, because here in Western society we don't really
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  Speaker 1: have slavery in the same way. But this certainly applies
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  Speaker 1: to us. And here's why. Because if we are Christians,
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  Speaker 1: we are God's servants. We are his slaves. That is
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  Speaker 1: what we sign up to be is the servant of God.
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  Speaker 1: That is what being a Christian actually means. Is I
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  Speaker 1: am going to become the servant of God and do
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  Speaker 1: what he wants me to do and submit to his
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  Speaker 1: will for my life. And I've been thinking about that
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  Speaker 1: for myself recently because I'm not gonna lie. I am
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  Speaker 1: a terrible servant of God because I do exactly what
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  Speaker 1: Paul tells these other servants not to do. I contradict
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  Speaker 1: God all the time. I'm always fighting against his will
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  Speaker 1: and wrestling with him and saying I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: do that, and like throwing a temper tantrum getting really
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  Speaker 1: anxious whenever I feel that he wants to do something
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  Speaker 1: that I don't want to do. I am a terrible
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  Speaker 1: servant of God. And I was thinking this actually when
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  Speaker 1: I was in the car the other day. I had
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  Speaker 1: a long car ride that I was doing, and at
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of the car ride, I was so angry
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  Speaker 1: at God, and towards the middle of the car ride,
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  Speaker 1: it just hit me. I'm like, you know, if I
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  Speaker 1: had an employee that talked to me the way I
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  Speaker 1: just talked to God, I would have smacked that employee
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  Speaker 1: in the face and immediately fired them. And yet God
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  Speaker 1: is so kind to us when we contradict him and
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  Speaker 1: we're anxious and cruel and we tell him all of
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  Speaker 1: these things that we don't like about him or what
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  Speaker 1: he's doing in our lives. So that's how this passage
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  Speaker 1: applies to us. We need to not contradict God, we
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  Speaker 1: need to not steal from him. So how can we
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  Speaker 1: steal from God? Well, actually, there's a verse about this
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  Speaker 1: in Malachi chapter three, verse eight. Here's what God says.
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  Speaker 1: He says, will a man rob God? Yet you rob me?
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  Speaker 1: But you say, how have we robbed you? In tithes
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  Speaker 1: and offerings. You are cursed with the curse for you
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  Speaker 1: rob me even this whole nation. And then God goes
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  Speaker 1: on to explain in that passage about how the people
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  Speaker 1: were robbing him of the tithes and the offerings owed
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  Speaker 1: to him because they were bringing these lame and crippled
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  Speaker 1: animals and these other offerings that were just absolute trash.
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  Speaker 1: And God goes on to say, would you give this
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  Speaker 1: a lamb that's lame and crippled to your governor? Like,
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  Speaker 1: say your governor came over to your house and you
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  Speaker 1: want to offer him something, would you give him a
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  Speaker 1: lame animal? No, of course not. You would never do that.
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  Speaker 1: You would give him the best of the best because
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  Speaker 1: you want to impress him. And yet you give me
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  Speaker 1: these crippled animals. And that's how we are robbing God.
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  Speaker 1: And he might be like, well, Jen, we don't do
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  Speaker 1: offerings like that to God anymore. Well, no, But we
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  Speaker 1: can rob him in other similar ways, like, for example,
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  Speaker 1: if you know that you should be doing something because
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  Speaker 1: God tells you to do it, you fight with God
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  Speaker 1: the entire time and you just don't do your best.
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  Speaker 1: That's a way that you can absolutely rob God of
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  Speaker 1: what is owed to him, or say you do give
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  Speaker 1: an offering of some sort, but you give it out
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  Speaker 1: of obligation and guilt, or maybe you hold something back
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  Speaker 1: even though you promised God ahead time, like hey God,
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  Speaker 1: I will give you this amount, and you just don't
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  Speaker 1: do it. That's another way that you are robbing. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we can absolutely rob God as servants when we are
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  Speaker 1: not giving our best to him. When we give our
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  Speaker 1: best to other people because we want to impress them,
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  Speaker 1: but we give God our remnants and our crap, that
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  Speaker 1: is the way that we rob God. And Paul also
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  Speaker 1: says that the servants need to show all good fidelity
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  Speaker 1: that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
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  Speaker 1: in all things. I actually had to look up what
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  Speaker 1: the word fidelity means, and it's defined as faithfulness to
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  Speaker 1: a person, cause or belief, demonstrated by a continuing loyalty
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  Speaker 1: or support. So we need to show God fidelity. We
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  Speaker 1: need to be faithful to him in all things. And
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  Speaker 1: that's really hard to do because you know, if he's
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  Speaker 1: doing something in our life that we just don't get
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  Speaker 1: or we don't like, that's when we start losing faith
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  Speaker 1: in his plan and in who he is or we
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  Speaker 1: might lose faith in his goodness. We might be like, well, God,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I have faith in you, but I certainly
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  Speaker 1: don't trust that you are good because I don't like
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing in my life right now. But that's
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: not fidelity. Fidelity is trusting in God for who he
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: says he is, even if we don't understand what He's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: doing in our lives right now. And all of these
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: things are going to help us adorn the doctrine of God,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: our Savior in all things. So we are these servants
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  Speaker 1: that Paul is talking about right here. We are these people,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: but we are of God. And so that's one of
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  Speaker 1: the ways that this actually applies to us right now.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Scripture always applies to us no matter what era we
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  Speaker 1: live in. There's another verse in the New Testament that says,
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  Speaker 1: the Word of God is alive and active and sharper
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  Speaker 1: than any two edged sword. So the Word of God
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: is alive, and that's why it always applies to us
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: no matter what era we live in. Moving on to
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: verse eleven, it says, for the grace of God has appeared,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously,
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  Speaker 1: and godly in this present age looking for the blessed
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: hope and appearing of the glory of our great God
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and Savior, Jesus Christ. So that right there is our
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: mission statement. That is why we live a life of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: denying ourselves and our worldly lusts, is because God has
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: given grace and salvation to all of us people, so
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: that we will live so overly, righteously, and godly in
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: this present age looking for Jesus's return. We deny ourselves
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: because we become the servants of God, and in doing so,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: we can actually look forward to the day that Jesus
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: comes again. But the people who don't live for Jesus
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  Speaker 1: or believe in Jesus, that's not going to be a
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  Speaker 1: day that they look forward to. That's going to be
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: a day of misery for them, because when Jesus returns,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: he is returning as a warrior. The first time that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Jesus came to the earth, he said that he did
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  Speaker 1: not come to condemn the world. That was the first
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: time Jesus came. But the second time he is coming
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: to condemn the world. And the last thing we want
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: is to be standing in front of an all powerful,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: wrathful god. We do not want that, and that is
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: why we live for Jesus. But that's not the only reasons,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: because Jesus is our god. And it's also because he
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: loves us so desperately that he came to earth and
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: died on a cross that wasn't even meant for him.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: It was meant for a man named Barabbas. It was
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: meant for our murderer. But Jesus was crucified on that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: cross instead of Barrabas. And you know, Barabis represents every
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  Speaker 1: single one of us humans. That cross was meant for us,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and Jesus took that payment for us. And that's why
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: we followed Jesus and we love him because he first
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: loved us. It says in verse fourteen, he gave himself
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  Speaker 1: for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity
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  Speaker 1: and purify for himself a people for his own possession,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: zealous for good works. And that's another reason we live
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: for Jesus, because we are thankful to him. We are
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: thankful for what he did up on that cross, how
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: he gave himself for us. And then Peter concludes by
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: giving Titus one last little thing. He says, say these things,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: despise you. Titus was supposed to live in a way
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: where no one would despise him. And how might somebody
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: despise you? Well, if you're a jerk, if you mistreat people,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: if you don't live out what you're saying, if you
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: are a liar or violent, those are some reasons why
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: somebody might despise you. So he gives Titus one last warning,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: don't let people despise you. Act in such a way
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  Speaker 1: that people aren't going to despise you. And here's the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: other thing I wanted to mention that I forgot to mention.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Going back to verse eight, he says, have sound as
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: a speech that can't be condemned, that he who opposes
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  Speaker 1: you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: about us. I think that verse is actually interesting because
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Titus wasn't just living a good life for himself. Yes,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: that was certainly part of it, so that people wouldn't
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: condemn him or despise him or think bad things about him.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: But Titus was also a representative for the church, and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: that's why. Paul says that if people don't despise Titus,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: they're also not going to have any evil thing to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: say about us, in other words, Christians in general. So
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: that's something Christians need to understand. You are not just
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: representing yourself, You are representing every single Christian on this
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: planet because the world is watching Christians. In fact, the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: world is fascinated with the Christian lifestyle, and every single
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Christian that does something bad yet claims to be about
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Jesus that reflects poorly on other Christians because people look
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: at these hypocritical Christians and they're like, why would I
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: ever want to step foot in a church when people
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: act like that? Why would I ever want to associate
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: with Christianity when they all act like that? That's why,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Paul says, Titus, when you act correctly, people will have
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: no evil thing to say about us. So we as
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: God servants represent not just ourselves but also the church
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: as a whole. Well, thank you Faith listeners so much
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: for listening to this podcast episode. Before I say, have
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: be listening in God bless to all of you guys.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Here is a quick message from a sponsor all right
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Faith for listeners, I hope Today's episode was very encouraging
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: for all of you guys, and maybe Convicting maybe taught
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you something about being a servant for God, how important
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: that actually is, and how it's a vout, and how
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: becoming a Christian that is ultimately what you're supposed to
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: do is become Christ's servant. So if you are not
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: actually being a servant of God, if you are living
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: only for yourself, then I would encourage you to take
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: a step back and think about why did I become
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a Christian? What am I trying to gain from being
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a Christian, and what does God really want me to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: do as a Christian. Being a Christian is not a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: way for us to control God and just you know,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: ask things from Him whenever we need something. That's not
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: what the Christian life is about. The Christian life is
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: about serving God with everything that we have, and we
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: have to learn how to become good servants. And it
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: takes a really long time to learn that because we're
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: all prideful, we're all selfish, we all want our own way.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: But thankfully God is very gracious and kind to all
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: of us, very bad servants. All right, faithful listeners, have
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. I'll see
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow for an episode from Second to Chronicles,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.