Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Titus 2:9,10
My parents were tough. They were mean. After all, I was expected to empty the kitchen trashcan into the big metal cans that were outside. That meant that I had to pull the bag up and carry it all of 25 feet without spilling anything. And then, of all things, they expected me to put a new, empty bag inside the kitchen trashcan.
Their unrealistic expectations didn’t stop. Oh no. Once a week they thought that I should be responsible enough to remember to lug the big metal trashcans out to the curb. And if that wasn’t hard enough, I was supposed to bring the trash cans back from the curb and put them in the back yard.
I hope that you caught my sarcasm about taking out the trash. It was a very small thing for my mom and dad to ask in comparison to all that they did for me. For all the things they provided for me. Gave to me.
That’s the way we think. That’s the way we’re taught. We’re to do nice things as a way to pay back others for the nice things they’ve already done for us. We’re to give back because someone else has given to us.
It’s easy to be nice to nice people. To be kind to kind people. It just seems natural to repay someone with a smile when they first smiled at us. To hold open a door for a stranger after someone already held the door open for us.
This may be the way the world works, but Paul’s telling Titus something radically different. Because Jesus loved us when we we’re unlovely[1], we’re to be like him and love even the unlovely. Because Jesus died for us while we were his enemies[2], we’re to be like him and love our enemies.
Now Paul didn’t just make this up on his own. This extreme approach to life came directly from Jesus. He lived, acted, and spoke with a really different approach to life. He didn’t wait for people to be nice to him before he was nice to them. Before he died for them. No, he looked at the world very differently than we do.
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6:27,28
This is so important for Titus to hear because most of the people listening to him didn’t work for Christians. When Titus taught the people in his church, they needed to be reminded that their bosses weren’t Christians, and neither were most of the people they worked with.
Because their bosses and coworkers were different, it would be easy to look down their noses at them. After all, they weren’t as smart as the Christians. They weren’t tuned into God like they were. They were still pagans and lost in their sins while they were fully forgiven.
Even though this is true, Titus was to know and teach the early Christians that they were different. Yes, they were forgiven, but they weren’t to be like everybody else. They were sons and daughters of their Heavenly Father. And this meant that they were to live out that loving relationship with God through their connections and interactions with the people around them.
It was true then., and it’s still true today. Followers of Jesus are to live wildly different lives than that of the people in the world. And why is that? Because Christians belong to heaven and not this world.
Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world – John 18:36
In this world, we are aliens and temporary residents – 1 Peter 2:11
Our rightful place and citizenship is in heaven – Philippians 3:20
Yes, Christians are to be really, really different. They’re to live like they are totally forgiven. Fully and freely forgiven. Not because of anything they did but because of what God in Christ did. He did all the dying. He did all the paying. He did all the forgiving.
So, what’s left for people like you and me to do? In one sense, absolutely nothing. Since God did and paid it all, there’s nothing for us to do other than to thankfully receive his amazing gift.
But there’s something that we’re supposed to do. That we’re commanded to do. We’re to give God our entire lives. We’re to turn over the keys and steering wheel of our life to him. We to let him take us wherever he wants. As fast as he wants, or as slow as he wants. He can race us down the road of life at 110 miles per hour or he can park us in the parking lot of life for as long as he wants. And we’re to say, “Yes Lord.”
Noodling Questions
How clearly was this explained to you when you first accepted Jesus?
What’s your response when God seems to be moving too slow?
How easy is it to say “Yes Lord” when you don’t understand?
[1] Romans 5:8
[2] Romans 5:10
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