Titus 3:1-2 – 1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
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Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus are his letters offering advice for young pastors. Paul, as an older apostle of the Lord Jesus, has wisdom to pass along to his protégés. The glorious thing for us is that God has chosen to preserve this advice, as it is what he calls all pastors to think, to do, and to be.
Here in Titus 3, Paul lists a set of character qualities that young pastors are to put before the people of God. Clearly these are all attributes that the people of God should already know to have. But it is wise for a godly pastor to remind his flock to have these qualities, because, in our humanity, we often forget the obvious things we ought to do or be.
While there are seven qualities listed here, I want to focus our attention on two major categories of qualities: obedience and speech. Looking at obedience, we see that verse 1 has a running theme. The people of God are to obey their authorities to be able to do good. There are likely two categories in view here. On the one hand, Christians are to be obedient to all the laws of the land in which they live. We are to obey any law of government unless that law somehow contradicts the commands of God. So, if a law is passed forbidding evangelism, we must humbly disobey. However, we obey laws such as copyright laws and speed limits because God’s word has no specific commands telling us not to. We must be a people who know how to honor authority.
In a second category of obedience, it is right for the people of God to respect and follow the leaders that God has put in place over them. God designed the local church to be led by at least one elder or pastor (I think a plurality of elders is most biblical). These men are charged with the task of praying for and feeding the people of God with the word of God. They are called by God to offer spiritual leadership and guidance to the church. And, since these men are charged with the task to lead, the congregation is charged with the task to follow. Again, this is to take place in the church unless the leadership, for some reason, attempts to lead the people in a direction that is clearly contrary to the word of God
Between the two categories is the call to be ready to do good work. This is both part of our obedience and part of the second category of our words. We need to be eager, anxious, and ready to do what is good and right. We should be eager to obey our authorities. We should be eager to speak and act in a way that is godly.
The second category is what I will simply summarize as being godly in our speech. Look at the reminders: “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” Simply put, our speech is to be kind, loving, and positive when at all possible. We are not to speak evil of one another or of those outside our community. This is a hard one for me, as I am easily tempted to join in such conversation; but there is no excuse for sinfully speaking evil of another person. Yes, there is a difference in being honest and being evil, and that difference will be heard in the tone of speech and understood in the heart’s motivation. The fact is, if you have something negative to say about another person, you had better be very careful that your heart is focused on God’s glory and the other’s good, that your attitude is not arrogant and selfish, and that you have been careful to do everything in your power to believe the best about the person first.
Paul goes on to call us to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to be courteous. This is all in our attitude and in our speech. We avoid harsh words in order to show gentleness, kindness, and love. We ought always be eager to avoid a quarrel so long as essential doctrine is not at stake. We ought be gentle, not willing to do any person any unnecessary harm with our words. We ought be courteous, even if our interlocutor is not. Why? We want to show Christ’s kind of love and gentleness to everyone.
You might say, “This all sounds nice, but it’s impossible in the real world.” My flesh wants to agree with you. But let me draw on one picture before we close the topic. Jesus was bloodied, beaten, and abused by evil men. During the entire event, Jesus spoke no evil against those men, and prayed that God might have mercy upon them. Can you, for even a second, picture Jesus speaking to or about these men without kindness, gentleness, or perfect courtesy? Of course you can’t, not if you really have a picture of the Lord Jesus. We want to show the world what Jesus is like, and our speech must be as full of grace and love as his was, even when we are abused.
By the way, do you think that Paul put obedience and speech side-by-side for a reason? Whom do you find easiest to criticize? About whom is it most common for you to let out a nasty judgment? Is it not the ones over you? Is it not easy to speak out against the supposedly inept establishment in Washington? Is it not easy to spout off at how poorly things are being run at a denominational level (regardless your denomination or its efficiency)? Is it not tempting to listen to a sermon and then sit down with your family to a lunch of “roast preacher”? Let’s be careful, as our most natural ways of criticizing may be our most fleshly.
Folks, I do not pretend that I have this one all worked out yet, but I look at this text, and I see that God wants me to be reminded of his standards for my speech. Perhaps you have the same feeling as you read this. Perhaps you feel like you are a long way from getting this part of your life right. If so, you are at least in my company if not good company. So, let us work together to tame our tongues for the glory of God. Let us remember to follow our leaders and use our words in such a way that we might glorify God in what we say and do.
Pastor Travis Peterson 