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Sermon 65

Sermon by Malcolm Anker at Wonersh on 21^st January 2007.

Titus 3

BibleGateway.com - Passage Lookup: Titus 3;

1. Story of the gossipy MU!

Punchline from the worst offender:- “That should have done that ***** Mrs Martin the world of good!”

Every sermon should first of all be preached to the preacher, or else it will lack any bite or penetration. And all who hear a sermon need to address to themselves and not someone else!

2. I once had to interview a man who had come to see me about getting ordained. He was a wealthy businessman, whose family owned several farms in Kent, and whose day to day task was to strike deals to sell the farms’ produce. He described his personal spiritual history, his conversion, and his personal relationship with the Lord. He then claimed that since he had given himself to the Lord, the family business had prospered beyond imagining. It had grown so much that he was now a millionaire, and wanted to give something back to God. That was why he was offering for ordination. He was strictly teetotal, and so were his family. He believed that a Christian should never drink alcohol. I then asked a very simple question. “Of what you sell from your farms, what would you say was the main product?” “Barley”, he said. Having been a vicar in the Yorkshire countryside for many years, I knew that barley was a doubtful crop for good profits. Only one kind of business would buy it and give a good price. So I asked him. “So who buys the crop, then?” “Oh, we have several big buyers. In fact most of the big breweries in the South East are our best customers.”

Now, I am not averse to a beer or two, but he had told me he was. And I couldn’t quite marry up his stance. I challenged him. “So you believe that a Christian should not drink alcohol, but you are quite happy in making huge profits out of those who produce it? Do you accept any responsibility for the temptation you put in people’s way?”

“Oh. No!” he said. “I believe that I am responsible for my own relationship with God. And that shouldn’t mix with business, or politics, come to that. I’m quite happy keeping my religious faith out of business.”

Needless to say, that man was not recommended for training as a priest. He illustrates, I think, one of the most common heresies of the present age. That your private life has nothing to do with your public and vice versa. In Christianity, this displays itself by an over emphasis on individual personal salvation as against the corporate salvation of God’s whole creation, and this in turn leads on to an attitude that keeps religion out of business, and out of politics, since both are in the public world, and religion is in the private.

In caricature terms, it means that you can quite happily worship God in Church on Sunday, and then, assured of your personal salvation, you can do what you like during the week. This is what many have held against the Catholic practice of Confession for example, but it can equally be held against the protestant emphasis on personal relationship with God being a private affair.

3. Now, why am I meandering along in this way, when what you really want to know is about the third chapter of Titus? It is because the writer of our Epistle is adamant about the resultant behaviour of those who claim salvation from God. That behaviour must be changed, and must take into account not only other people, but the whole created universe. If we are saved by God, then the fruits have to be seen in action.

And the disciple Titus as he first read the letter would have been in doubt of the truth of this. William Barclay has it in his commentary “Christianity does not insist that a man should cease to be an individual, but it does insist that a man must always remember that he is also a member of a group. …A man best expresses his personality not in isolated individualism, but within the framework of the group. He bests find himself in the company and service of others.”

So we have those words in the beginning of the chapter, that Titus is to remind his little flock “to be ready for every work so long as it is good, not to be aggressive, to be kindly, to show all gentleness to all men”.

That word, gentleness, is interesting. “The Greek word is praus which describes the man whose temper is always under complete control. He knows when to be angry, and when not to be angry. He will bear wrongs done to himself quite patiently, but will spring to the help of those who are wronged or injured”(Barclay). Again Barclay has it –“ Qualities like these are only possible for the Christian, for they are only possible for the man in whose heart Christ reigns supreme. The welfare of any community depends on the acceptance by the Christians within it of the duty of demonstrating to the entire world the nobility of Christian citizenship.”

4. After this preliminary, there comes a glowing passage about God’s work of salvation, and the stress that is laid on the fact that it is for all. You will perhaps have notice last week in chapter two, that the grace of God has appeared to ALL men. (2.11) Yet the individuals who were arguing, argued over who is a Christian and who is not, and tried to make the greatest blessings of Christianity the exclusive possession of the few; but this letter shares with the letters to Timothy a declaration that the true faith stresses the all embracing love of God.

How up-to-date then is this epistle for the Christian church,! as we hear so many tirades from those who should know better about the nature of true Christianity, about who is and is not a Christian, about who and who should not be allowed to be in communion with the Christian Church. Fifteen years ago it was about those who believed in the ordination of women, and those who didn’t. Today it is about those who are confused about their sexuality. In the years in which I was brought up, it was about those who remain married, and those who are divorced. The Mothers’ Union refused membership to those who were divorced, making no exception for those regarded by the law as innocent. These considerations are all part of man-made arguments and speculations about what and who God is willing to save. And the answer is “Have nothing to do with such speculation”. “All may be saved”.

5. It is tempting to think that discussion of the faith should be a purpose in itself. But the real task of the Christian is in Christian action. That is not to say that there is no place for Christian discussions, but it is to say that discussion that does not end in action is very largely wasted time. And also an avoidance of action.

I have known Christian House groups who have discussed all the doctrines of the Creed, and the whole of the Gospels, and have never committed themselves to collecting for Christian Aid: I have known prayer groups who have prayed for every person under the sun, but have steadfastly refused to care for their neighbours, or undertake to visit people in hospital.

So this little letter to Titus is full of meat: full of practicality; and all of it is truly applicable to the church in the modern world.

I am going to end by reading to you the middle section of Chapter Three, in William Barclay’s translation. It is an outstanding platform for any Christian, and reaches out to us in startling ways. It tells us that we have been no better than those we criticise. It tells us we have not earned our salvation. It tells us, perhaps that our response is not smug proud arrogance as one of the saved, but supreme gratefulness that God has considered us at all - so listen again:-

Beginning at verse 3.

“For we too were once senseless, disobedient, misguided, slaves to all kinds of desires and pleasures, living in maliciousness and envy, detestable ourselves, and hating each other. But when the goodness and the love to men of God our saviour appeared, it was not by works wrought in righteousness, which we ourselves had done, but by his own mercy that he saved us.

That saving act was made effective to us through that washing, through which there comes to us the rebirth and the renewal which are the work of the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out upon us all, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And the aim of all this was that we might be put into a right relationship with God through his grace, and so enter into possession of eternal life, for which we have been taught to hope.”

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