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Good Monday morning my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world.
I realize, of course, that just because I am writing and recording this in the early morning, by the time you read it, it may be late in the day or even the next day, now that “Walking with Jesus” is global. I’m so glad you are with us in this journey and as you feel led by the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to share “Walking with Jesus” with those you believe may be helped and encouraged by our journey together.
Many of you have told me how you appreciate the new APP’s both for Android & Apple cell phones. We are simply amazed by what God has done in making these technologies possible for “Walking with Jesus” to reach so many more people and the features of the APP’s making it so easy for you to communicate with me. We really are becoming a global community of friends, who are “Walking with Jesus” everyday.
Today, let’s open our Bibles to Titus chapter 3 as we continue experiencing this letter Titus has received from his mentor the Apostle Paul in about 64ad on the island of Crete. Then and now, Christians need help in knowing how to live honorable lives in corrupt, decadent societies. Look at 3:1 “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”
Let me ask you, does that sound like the city or town in which you live? What would need to change in order for these words to accurately describe where you live?
Would you agree that in every country, every State or Province, every city, the leaders have as their responsibility to build this type of society? In my observation, normally their strategy is more police on the streets, more laws to restrict dangerous behavior, stronger penalties for those who break the law, more prisons to confine those who they believe to be bad people, and more taxes to pay for all that. How are those solutions working where you live?
And think for a moment, how do the school boards in your city or region address the desire to build a society like Paul describes? Their responsibility is the teaching and training of children and youth? So what do you see happening in schools all around the world?
And what about the entertainers in our world? Those who have the privilege of being invited into our hearts and minds through TV, radio, internet, video games, movies, theater, concerts etc. How does it appear to you that these people are contributing to developing the type of society Paul describes in Titus 3:1,2?
And what about athletics? This year we have the summer Olympics! So how do we see coaches and team owners and athletes, all around the world, in every sport imaginable, contributing to the development of the society Paul describes?
And finally FAMILIES. In every society the FAMILY is the centerpiece. Babies are born into families. Children are raised in families. Older folks are loved and cared for by families. FAMILY is where we learn how to live in our world. So, what do we see happening to the FAMILIES in your town, anywhere in our world today, and how is that either contributing to or unraveling the type of society Paul is urging Titus to encourage on the island of Crete?
Ok friends… so if what Paul describes in these two verses is NOT what you see in your city or town… why not? What is your remedy to the problem? More police, better schools, better entertainment, more athletics, more technology advancement, better families… what would be the solutions you’d bring if you were elected Mayor of your city, or Governor of your State, or President of your nation?
And what do you suppose is GOD’s answer, His solution to our global mess? After all, He created the world and every person in it? I see God’s answers in the next few verses Paul writes to Titus: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” (Titus 3:3) Do you hear Paul saying…“it’s all of us, everywhere, everyone, naturally. WE are the problem!”
That my friends is essential. No matter who the finger-pointers are, standing up pointing out the terrible things in our societies around the world, remember when you point your finger at someone else, normally there are three fingers, on your own hand, pointing back at you! Fixing the human problems of our world start right here… acknowledging that the problems are shared by all of us, because the roots are deep in all of us, because evil is deep in all of us!
Every problem you and I see, everywhere in the world, is rooted in evil, wrong, darkness. Which is the absence of good, right, and holy truth. So that means the solution must deal with the root problem, not the symptoms which we see on the streets. It’s a HEART problem in each of us, isn’t it?
Consider how Paul wrote it to his friends in the city of Ephesus: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature…” (Eph. 2:1-3) So “Confession” is step number one!
Confession means “I agree with God, I am part of the problem in our world. The evil in my heart spills out in my words, my attitudes, my choices, my actions and I am therefore a contributor to the mess in our world. I need help, God’s help, because I can’t change myself. Education won’t fix my evil heart, entertainment won’t change my evil heart, more laws won’t stop my evil heart from wanting to do wrong, and as I get married and we have children they grow up just like me, one more evil hearted person contributing to the world problem and pain… help me God, help me!”
And that is where Paul’s next statement, as he writes to Titus, is the world-wide answer: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared [JESUS], He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…” (Titus 3:4,5,6)
There it is my friends! God’s answer to the global human problem of evil which like a cancer destroys every person from the inside out! And spills out like nuclear radiation on every other person, harming and killing everything we humans touch! God’s answer is NOT more police, more entertainment, more sports, more schools. God’s answer is first, a God accomplished heart change for every person! Then with changed hearts, we can build God honoring schools, God honoring families, we will produce God honoring entertainment and we’ll actually need less police, much fewer prisons and even less laws!
You notice, I’m sure, that Paul writes it is God’s kindness and love that motivates Him to offer us His help. It’s not God’s anger, or judgment or punishment… it’s His love, my friends! From beginning to end of the Bible, every page is another evidence of the love of God for our human race that He created in His image, but who has turned our back on God and insisted that He get out of our politics, our education, our entertainment, our business and health care, and even out of our families! Yet He so loves us, for who we COULD be if only we would be who He designed us to be! This, my friends, is God’s motivation for sending Jesus… to fix the problem of evil in our hearts, one person at a time!
You know what friends, I feel led by the Holy Spirit to stop right here… and just let us ponder this for the rest of this day! As you and I walk through life today, every time we see something that is the evidence of the evil in our world, the selfish evil in the hearts of every person, let’s think about God’s response. Rather than God pouring out His judgement and destroying every person who does something wrong, God reaches to that person in His great love!! That is MERCY my friends. So look today for the evidence of God’s MERCY… God exercising His patience with our human race, God extending His forgiveness to us, God waiting for us to admit our mess and ask for His help.
And thank God, let’s thank Him friends, every time you see it today… the evidence of His MERCY! Thank Him for Jesus, whom He sent to bring us HOPE. Thank Him for His Holy Spirit who lives in you if you have trusted Jesus to be your Savior. Thank Him for how He has changed YOUR life as you look around and see the results of evil all around and remember how you could so easily be a contributor to the mess. And let’s ask Him to keep doing His life changing work in us, to make us more and more like Jesus as we… you and I, ‘walk with Jesus’ today. And let’s ask Jesus to help us see how we can bring His hope and help into our world.
Have you ever heard of the “prayer of St. Francis of Assisi”? Here it is in a simple but stirring youtube clip:
Tomorrow, we’ll continue with the rest of what Paul writes here in Titus 3.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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