Image: Unsplash Sermon
10. Be Good Citizens (Titus 3:1-7).
Introduction
–
One thing we
know about the Bible is that it is never controversial. It presents a mild
mannered saviour, who is always perfectly polite in the Old Victorian way, who
goes out of his way to never offend anyone around him. And it presents a series
of simple moral guidelines that if followed never breed controversy and never
make your life more difficult…
…And of course,
that is nonsense. Despite what people say at Christmas about Jesus coming to
give “peace and goodwill to all men” Jesus himself told us Matthew 10:34-36 –
“34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to
the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to
set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be
those of his own household.”
Jesus told
us he brought with him a sword that shakes up all the old structures and
creates division simply because of its declaration of truth. Remember we
observed over the last couple of weeks that the coming of the king changes
everything, his truth is a sword that naturally divides.
That
sentiment that people say at Christmas time about peace and goodwill does come
from a Biblical idea and even a verse, and we will come back to it, but what we
know is that Jesus was not shy about being controversial. He acknowledged that
he is controversial, the Bible acknowledges that the word of God is a sword and
therefore will create divisions. Where truth is spoken divisions will happen,
it is unavoidable. Light pushes against darkness, truth confronts lies, this is
how it has always been and will always be in this world.
We should
not avoid wrestling with difficult topics, just because they cause controversy.
Unnecessary controversy is a waste of time and damaging in many ways. But
saying truthful things that might create divisions is something that is
required of every believer. You and I are commanded to wield the sword of the
truth, knowing full well that it will create issues for us and others.
Today we are
going to talk about an issue that will likely dredge up some recent
controversy. Not because we want to do that for fun, but because the text for
today demands it. Titus 3:1-7 forces us to wrestle with some principles that in
recent years split friendships, families, churches, and society and this is all
still fresh in our minds. But because the text goes where it does, we are going
to go there today as well. Today we are going to talk about being good citizens
and what this means, biblically.
There was a
time not that long ago when this was hardly controversial for Aussies. It did
not create discomfort for most of us believers. But our world is changing, and
becoming less Christian, and we are commanded to be good citizens of two
kingdoms: our earthly society and God’s kingdom. The tension and controversy
comes in where these two kingdoms collide.
So, let’s
examine what Paul says about being a good citizen, and how we should navigate
those times when these two kingdoms collide.
Be Good
Citizens (vv.1-2) –
Paul begins by telling the Christians in Crete to be good citizens, “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.” To be
honest, I prefer how the KJV translates these two verses, because it makes more
sense of the original, particularly in the last phrase, “1 Put them in
mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be
ready to every good work, 2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but
gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.” The Christian’s default
setting is to be a good citizen, who does not want to break the law, who
respects governmental authority and is generally peaceable and good to live
around.
I don’t know
any Christians who are not like this. Most Christians, though not perfect, make
good citizens and good neighbours. Paul is saying be the kind of people that
people want to have as their neighbours, and that governments want to have as
their citizens. People who are not troublesome and bothersome, but noble and
good.
I think the
ESV translates verse two very poorly, because “show perfect courtesy to
all men” is not what the passage says in the original language. It also
says something very limiting in modern Western society, where perfect courtesy
is interpreted through the grid of the Victorian era and includes ideas about
what sorts of forks to use, and what suit you should wear at what sort of meal,
and never being harsh in your speech. This makes no sense, when the words
behind this passage being translated are better rendered “showing all
meekness unto all men.”
Jesus showed
“all meekness until all men” but he did not always fit our ideas
of perfect curtesy.
In other
words, Paul is saying, be humbly self-controlled with all people. That can mean
something very different to perfect courtesy. It means bear with them in
patience and control your passions around other people.
This is
incredibly wise. In essence what Paul is saying is we should be self-controlled
citizens, who want to obey the authorities God has put in place to govern
society.
Christians
are not to be anarchists, who believe that government should not exist, but
model citizens. It is foundational Christian doctrine that God institutes
governments for the good of humanity. It is one of the things God does to limit
evil in the world, and Paul in Romans 13 and Peter in 1 Peter 2, both tell us
that government exists to punish evildoers.
What do they
mean? Well, we will come back to this.
Christians
are also not to be revolutionaries or rebels for the sake of ungodly causes.
There are all sorts of organizations in our society that want to overturn
everything about our society, these people are not friends of the gospel.
Christians should defend and uphold good traditions which protect the nation
from disaster.
We are to
live this way, because we have been transformed.
A
Transformed People
(vv.3-6) – We are to be good citizens, not because the government is God, and
the highest authority of our lives, but because we are now different, “3
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various
passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others
and hating one another. The reason we reorientate our life, is because
we have been changed from what we once were.
Paul is
saying, there was once a time when we lived like unsaved pagans. This would be
different for different people, with varying degrees.
-
Some
of you were born into a Christian home and cannot remember a time when you were
not Christians in culture, if not in actuality.
-
Some
of us lived lives of out and out rebellion, rejecting many of the teachings of
God and engaging in the things this world has to offer us.
But all of
us at one point, before we were believers were alienated from God. Even if our
behaviour was good, it was still sinful in the eyes of God and fell short of
his glory.
I can’t help
but observe that Paul likely has himself in mind here. He was particularly bad
before he was saved, he was a self-righteous enforcer of God’s law, and he had
become so wicked at heart that he had persecuted God’s own people.
Many people
can relate to Paul, maybe not to the same extreme as him, but a lot of people
have been saved from a rough and rebellious life. This would have been
especially true in Paul’s day, when many people were being saved from a godless
Judaism or pagan Satan worship.
A society of
unregenerated people can be a dangerous place. It’s not that everyone will be
as evil as possible all the time, but there is less restraint on wickedness.
Many societies in the past were honour/shame cultures. Societies where if
someone wronged you, you were forced to get revenge by honour. When Paul says, “passing
our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.”
He means this was literally a part of the culture of Rome, Greece and other
societies in that day.
Vengeance
was an expected thing. A wronged party must avenge themselves. Hatred for petty
slights was common. Law was a means of dominating others, maliciously hurting
others, and getting one back over others.
The advance
of the gospel through society began to change this, and the decline of
Christianity in the West will see society again become more like this. Get
ready for it.
But the key
thing we want to focus on in our message today is why we exhibit this change.
People of
a New Kingdom
(vv.4-6) – The reason we bring change is because we have been made citizens of
a new kingdom with a new heart, and we are made new by our good and gracious king, - “4 But when the goodness and loving
kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done
by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus
Christ our Savior,…” Paul wants us to draw our motivation for being
good citizens from the fact that we are now citizens of a new kingdom.
We have been
saved by the kindness of our God.
-
Not
because of works, but because of his mercy.
-
God
does this by regenerating us, that is making us born again, and renewing us by
the Power of the Holy Spirit. Through what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.
-
God
changes us completely on the inside so we can live in a very different way.
In other
words, Paul is saying, I Corinthians 6:19-20 - “19 Or do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from
God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God
in your body.”
We are to be
submissive to rulers, authorities, magistrates, be ready to be good, and be
meek with others, because we are people of the true King, and that is how he
wants us to live. We do it to bring him the glory.
As Paul says
at the beginning of Titus, “1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of
Jesus Christ…Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior”
(Tit. 1:1-4).
We have a
new king, a new allegiance, and we are to follow what he says. Government is
not our God. Money is not our God. Our boss is not our God. No human authority
or power is our God. The Lord God, maker of heaven and earth, is our God, and
we want to honour him, so we respect those in authority of us in the way he
tells us to.
Anyone
disagree with this? I don’t think any Christian disagrees with this. And here
is where we get our conflict and our controversy. Because what happens if the
authorities God tells us to obey step outside their God-given authority?
Kingdoms
Colliding – What
makes this question interesting is when we examine the lives of the people who
wrote the Bible we see that many of them were killed, unjustly by government
officials.
-
Jesus
was killed by the Jewish government and the Roman government, as a lawbreaker.
They worked together to crucify him.
-
Paul
was executed by the Roman government as a lawbreaker. He was imprisoned
multiple times and eventually executed.
-
Almost
all of the Apostle’s were killed by various governments around Rome, as
lawbreakers.
-
Stephen,
the Deacon, was martyred by the lawful officials of the province of Judea, and
an official of the Sanhedrin, Paul, approved of his execution.
-
Paul
himself, as a Jewish agent, put many Christians in jail and worse, Acts 26:9-11
– “9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked
up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief
priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I
punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and
in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
Paul did
this as an official agent of the Sanhedrin, which had the responsibility of
governing Judea, alongside the Herodians and the Roman officials.
Remember, even
though the Sanhedrin were religious officials, the ancients did not separate
religion from secular government, they were intertwined. Therefore, Paul was an
official agent of part of the legitimate governing authority of his day.
He used this
authority to persecute and punish Christians who did not obey the Jewish law.
They used Roman law to persecute Christians as well.
Note this
point, persecution is almost always legal. It is almost always official. It
almost always has the stamp of government authority.
Indeed, just
before Paul wrote this command in Titus, he had been imprisoned in Rome, and
just recently released, on account of his Christianity, and he would soon be rearrested
and executed after writing these words to Titus.
Christians
were arrested for all sorts of reasons. It’s not just that they preached the
gospel. They undermined businesses based on idolatry, they were accused of
disturbing the peace, they were treated like insurrectionists, faced trumped up
charges, all sorts of reasons.
So, a brief
reading of just the New Testament shows us that all of the Apostles and the
Lord Jesus Christ himself came into conflict with the authorities of their day,
just seeking to be good and faithful teachers and witnesses to the truth.
So, we can
see that just saying, “obey government” is not the full story of what it means
to be a good citizen in Christian terms. Because Paul himself, and Jesus were
persecuted as bad citizens of this world. Both were killed, by the governments
of their day.
Are you
going to say that Jesus and Paul deserved it? Because that is what a lot of
modern Christians say about their brothers and sisters facing trouble from
conflict with the authorities.
So this is
not as simple as people would like. This is a Christian principle where the
Bible forces us to think and pray hard. Paul outlines for us why it is not that
simple in one of his other letters.
Servants
of God – Remember
Paul told us that he is a servant of God, and we know that we are servants of God.
But, and many people forget this, the government is God’s servant as well, and
just like any other servant of God, they are bound by his commands, and are to
submit to his authority, and stay within their own sphere of authority. Paul
tells us in Romans 13:1-10 –
“13 Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are
ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not
be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of
the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that
which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the
minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience
sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their
dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear;
honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he
that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law” (KJV).
Paul is saying in more details here,
what he said before in Titus. Let’s observe just a few points:
-
The highest authority is God (v.1) – So who
is our highest authority? God. Who is the governments highest authority? God.
God sits above both individual man and government. Correct?
-
We obey Government, because it is his servant (vv.1-2) – Government is God’s servant, just as much as Paul, you or I,
and therefore, as God’s servant government must follow the commands of God. As
God’s servants we also seek to follow the commands of God.
-
Government is God’s servant for good (v.3-6) – just as we are expected by God to do good, so is government.
God is not ok with people or governments doing evil, and we only have authority
to do the good God allows us, everything else is disobedience. This is true for
people and governments.
-
We obey for the sake of conscience (v.5) – We don’t obey just because we are afraid of government, but
because we want to have a clear conscience before God. That is our primary
motivation for everything, because we are people of the king.
But what if the government tells you to
do something that you cannot abide because it crosses a boundary you cannot
cross. What happens if your conscience says you must obey God not man? What do
you do there?
This is why Jesus, Paul, and the
Apostles, found themselves persecuted and killed by lawful governments, because
they all found themselves in situations where God’s commands contradicted man’s
commands, and they chose to follow God over man.
For this, they were killed.
For this same reason countless
millions of Christians died by legal persecution. Because a government said
something that contradicted God’s word, and they could not comply.
Let me ask this question: if
Government is God’s servant, is it allowed to disobey God? No. No more than we
are. God is the highest authority remember.
So, if we follow for conscience sake,
then what happens if our conscience says, “I can’t comply?” What happens if our
conscience says, “This is evil, I will not go along with this?” What do you do?
Limits of Government Authority (Rom. 13:3, 9-10) – The first thing you have to do, is understand the
limits of governmental authority. Paul shows us these limits in two ways in
this passage.
First, the government is only
authorized by God to punish evil - “3 For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that
which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same…”
Government does not get to define
evil. It must punish the evil that God says it is allowed to punish. God
determines what is good, not man.
Second, it is only authorized by God
to punish with the sword those things on the second tablet of law –
“9 For this, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.”
Notice, that all of these
commandments here, in the context of government authority, come from the second
tablet of law. Therefore, this limits the sphere of government where the State
can use the sword to punish.
Any commandment in the Old Testament that
transgresses love for you neighbour, deliberately hurting your neighbour, is
covered by this law. As Paul says, “if there by any other commandment”
about “working no ill to your neighbour.”
This includes seeking to kill them,
lie about them, steal from them, steal a man’s wife, etc, do these things and
you can be punished by the law, according to Paul.
Early Baptists argued that the
government exists to punish people for things that deliberately hurt our
neighbours. Because government exists to protect life and liberty. So, when it
comes to life and liberty the government has every right to stop you hurting
your neighbour.
But does this give government total
authority over your body? No, your body is God’s. Does this mean the government
can make laws saying you should have to put something in your body you don’t
want? No, this is going too far. Does this mean the government can coerce your
conscience on matters of belief? No, because your conscience is judged by God
and God alone.
In other word’s government is a good
gift from God, that God ordains to protect people from evil, to collect taxes,
to stop murderers and adulterers, but when it goes beyond this, it goes beyond
its authority and disobeys God.
If you ignore your conscience and
follow ungodly commands, you also disobey God.
Ergo, living in this world, seeking
to be citizens of both this world and the heavenly kingdom is going to create
conflict eventually. For different people this will provoke different areas of
conscience. It is not an accident that Romans 13 which talks about obeying the
authorities, is followed by Romans 14 that is all about conscience issues on
disputable matters,
“2 One person believes he may eat
anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables... 5 One person esteems
one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one
should be fully convinced in his own mind…7 For none of us lives to himself,
and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if
we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are
the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be
Lord both of the dead and of the living. 10 Why do you pass judgment on your
brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before
the judgment seat of God;…” (Rom. 14:7-10).
On disputable matters Christians are
going to fall down on different sides of issues, and we are supposed to allow
for that kind of freedom. In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials
liberty, in all things charity.
There is so much more we could talk
about with this, but I think reflecting on how this relates to Christmas is the
best way to conclude our sermon this morning, so you can see that what we are
talking about here is Orthodox, old school Christianity.
The Kingdom Revolution – Up until very recently in our culture, these kinds of conscience issues
were not a big problem for most of us. Our culture was heavily influenced by
Christianity, and through many trials and tribulations, Christians had created
a culture where we could live peaceably together without state persecution. It
was the coming of our king that made this possible, in fact, look at what Mary
says about her own pregnancy,
Mary’s Song, Luke 1:46-47, 51-53
“46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the
Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices
in God my Savior,
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.”
Mary foresaw what the coming of her
son into the world would do, it would upturn kingdoms and change the world forever,
“51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;…”
The coming of Jesus, that changed
everything, was going to mean that oppressions would be opposed, and the humble
would be lifted up.
Part of the way that the coming of
Jesus overturned kingdoms, is because it created a people, the Church, the
people of God, who knew that they should obey governments when governments were
obeying God, and they should obey God all the time, no matter what, even if
they suffered for it from governments.
These people knew that even though
government had no right to punish them for following God, because the
authorities had the sword and were often ruled by evil men, they would suffer
anyway, and they faced this with joy. Counting it as a reward to be treated as
their saviour was.
It was the peaceful suffering of
countless believers like this, who wanted to obey their governments as much as
they could, be good citizens of their homes on earth, but also good citizens of
heaven, that brought about this change.
Through the efforts of these
Christians oppressions were opposed and ceased throughout the world. This is at
the heart of the message of Christmas, as Mary tells us, and as the great
Christmas carol O Holy Night says,
“The King of kings lay thus lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friends
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger
Behold your King, before him, lowly bend
Behold your King, before him, lowly bend
Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”
That’s right, you sang about this
every year at Christmas, but the songs were so familiar to you, you missed it. It
is those who submit to God, that enjoy his peace and goodwill, “Luke 2:13-14 – “13
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men.” (KJV). Jesus offers peace and goodwill to those who bend
the knee before the king.
Conclusion – So, Paul does want us to be good citizens. Good citizens of our nation,
and good citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And when we are forced to choose,
not by our own choice, but by wicked men who usurp an authority that is not
actually there, we should always choose to obey God over man, even if that
means we suffer for doing so, because we have a better hope than anything this
world offers, as Paul says in verse 7, “so that being justified by his
grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
This is the hope we look forward to. Let’s
hope and pray that we get to live quiet lives, humbly submitting to the
authorities over us. But let’s also pray that when we are forced to choose, we
choose with Joshua who said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.” Let’s pray.
