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Hebrews 3:13

but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Personal challenge

We are not alone on our journey toward theosis. The early church fathers taught that our salvation through Christ only comes about in a community. We need each other to fulfill our salvation. This verse in Hebrews urges us to exhort one another, lift each other up, on a daily or ongoing basis. We are not to do this just on Sundays when we are at church but throughout the week. This is the only way that we can be given the strength and encouragement to avoid sin. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Hebrews 2:14-15

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Encouraging words

There are some of our early church fathers that believed Adam and Eve were children of the light when they were in the garden of Eden and that when God clothed them after their sin, the clothing is the flesh and blood that we share with them as their descendants. These verses appear to allude to that thinking as well. Since they, and subsequently us, have been clothed in flesh and blood, then for Jesus to defeat the death of these bodies that comes for all, He had to put on the same flesh and blood. By doing this, He could live a perfect human life and die a death even though He was sinless. Because of this perfect life and physical death, His resurrection destroyed death itself and any power that it had on creation. As we sing in our Paschal hymn, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life.” Glory be to God!

Titus 3:9-11

But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

Personal challenge

The scriptures provide us many insights into how we should live our lives as Christians. They always boil down to the two supreme commands given to us by Jesus. They are to love our God and to love our neighbor. Sometimes we are clearly taught about those things that we need to avoid in our lives. Paul lists some of those in this passage and it would be good for us to heed this in our modern day. The first four, foolish disputes, genealogies, contentiousness, and strivings about the law, all revolve around spending too much time debating, arguing, and scheming over various and sundry religious teachings. We must be careful to not let heretical or schismatic teachings into the church The second is to deal swiftly in the church with those who are divisive. What does divisive look like? We all know how to spot that person who is intentionally trying to divide the church over something obvious. It may be over someone they don’t like, or the way a decision was made, or a myriad of other things, but it is obvious that they want to build a contingency of people on their side of the argument. However, it is the covert divisiveness that can be hard to spot. It may be in the form of gossip. “Did you know that so-and-so…”. It may be in the form of complaining to everyone that will listen rather than going to the source of the conflict. It is usually done one-on-one and subvers­ively. Paul is really clear on this. Admonish them and then avoid them. Divisiveness will very quickly destroy the unity of the body. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Titus 3:4-8

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Encouraging Words

It is so good to know that God’s kindness and love are shown toward mankind is not dependent upon our works or righteousness. If it was, then we would never see the salvation from eternal death that we so desperately need. It is only because of His mercy and the works and righteousness of His incarnate Son that we receive salvation. It is through Him and our baptism by water into Him and the receding of the Holy Spirit through chrismation that we become heirs in the Kingdom of God. Glory be to God!

Titus 3:1-2

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

Personal Challenge

How are we as Christians supposed to treat others? In Paul’s letter to Titus, we have a few more guidelines other than “love your neighbor”. If we are subject to a ruler or authority (government, law enforcement, teacher, employer, etc.), which all of us are, then we are to obey them and to be ready to do good works for them. For everyone else in our lives, then we are to speak evil of no one, be peaceable with all, be gentle, and show humility to all. This is no small task, yet one that we signed up for when we chose to follow Jesus. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Loud, have mercy!

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Personal challenge

So, we are being told by Paul, as he teaches Titus, to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Doesn’t this sound a bit like how we are supposed to be living during Great Lent? It does, but in reality, we should be living this way every day of our lives as we strive to be like Christ. This is a good lesson for the Lenten season. We should be trying to live the Lenten way all the time and not just the seven weeks leading up to Pascha. Maybe if we did this, Lent would not be so hard for us. And why do we do this? We do this because we are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We live this way to be always ready for His return. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Titus 2:9-10

Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

Personal Challenge

I have heard people say that the Bible does not apply to our world today. I have also heard people complain that there are not enough clear guidelines in the Bible for how we should act in certain situations. Both of these comments baffle me. Some of the terminologies may have changed over the last 2,000 years, but the concepts are still relevant, as they have remained so for all of those years. We do not have bondservants and masters, but we do have employees and employers, subordinates and managers, students and teachers, customers and suppliers. In all of these modern-day relationships, we can apply these teachings to Titus. Be obedient to the one that is in the lead. Strive to meet their needs by being well-pleasing, not answering back, not pilfering, and showing good fidelity. We do this to please our Lord and be an adornment to His doctrine. Glory be to God!

Titus 2:6-8

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

Personal challenge

What is driving the direction of our country, a country founded on the principles of a loving God, to be such a judgmental, self-focused, angry, unloving country? Maybe a key contributor to this is that we have walked away from the sound doctrine of the early church. And when I say early church, I mean the one that started around AD 30. Paul was exhorting Titus, as well as us, to be sober-minded in our actions, to perform good and godly works, and to live out doctrine in our lives that produce integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, and sound speech. Instead, we have created and adhere to a doctrine that is self-focused, self-aggrandizing, angry, judgmental, and lifeless. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Titus 1:1

Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness,

Personal Challenge

In Paul’s day, the concept of being a bondservant had two very different and strong definitions. The Jewish concept, based on the Old Testament usually meant a person who had dedicated their entire life to their master. The bondservant would often end up as the master’s right hand man. In the Roman empire, the bondservant was one who had lost everything including his ability to choose for himself and who was totally submissive to his master, whether good or bad. Paul determined that his role and calling as an apostle fit both of these definitions and he was okay with that. Do we, today, put that much faith in our Lord? Are we willing to give over our entire being and our desires to do what we want to do so that God can use us to build His kingdom? Are we acting on the knowledge of the truth that He has bestowed on us? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!