Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men
All of us probably know people who do not speak with the same accent with which they were raised. Maybe you are one of them. Maybe you grew up in a certain region of the country and you have intentionally trained yourself away from the accent you grew up using. That may be good or bad, but all of us realize that to some extent we are defined by our genetics, our upbringing, and our place of birth. I am American; I live in Tennessee; my name is Rice. All of these are markers that define a little bit of how I sound, what I do, and to some extent how I think. The question is, “Should those be the main markers?”
Have you ever been out of the country and someone pegged you immediately as an American? Or have you been somewhere else in this country and someone pegged you as from your state or region? Maybe someone has pegged you immediately as a Smith, a Jones, or, in my case, a Rice? Is that good or bad? Well, the older we become the more like ourselves we become, the more we give in to our natural instincts and inclinations. Sometimes we are so very intently running from being like a dad or mom. We try so hard to be different from them that we end up being exactly like them.
The point that I would like to make and that Titus makes is you will either live down to your genetics or up to God’s grace. Now, I thank God I am an American. I love Tennessee. I’m very thankful to be a Rice. However, am I to believe that those are the only things that define and determine who I am? Are we just primates who live for a short time and then dissolve into the earth? Are we nothing but animated bodies moving through space? Or is there more than that? In Titus, God is trying to tell us that His grace is capable of making more of us than merely the sum total of our genetics, attributes, and family.
Titus 3:8 says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” So, it is not just that they are profitable to me. I have faith, which is great, but that doesn’t help other people. My faith animates my works and that is what helps other people. He says, “They which have believed in God.” These are believers, not just Cretians or people from a certain family. They are believers, whether Jew or Gentiles, and they are to be careful to maintain good works, virtues that only God Himself can produce.
Again, in verse 14 it says, “And let ours [those who are believers] also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.” So, in verse 8 he is talking about good works, meaning virtues. In verse 14 he is talking specifically about the virtue of a good work ethic. So, good works means both your virtues and that you are a good worker. This is especially important because that was not the stereotype of the Cretians. Talking about false teachers in chapter 1, Paul says, “Whose mouths must be stopped.” Paul says in verse 12, “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” So, as opposed to what they were to be, they were not blameless; they were liars.
In the ancient world, to play the Corinthian meant to live an immoral life. For those who lived on Crete, to Cretianize literally meant to be a liar. So, there may be natural propensities that you have as an American, a Tennessean, or a Smith, Jones, Rice, or whatever, but you are more than the sum total of your genetics and your upbringing. If you are a believer and belong to Christ, you will either live down to your genetics or up to God’s grace, and that is the whole point.
Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” Living soberly is a theme you find throughout the book. He addresses the different occupations like the clergy or servants, male and female, and all ages of people, and instructs them to be sober-minded or to live soberly. Regardless of who we are or where we find ourselves in life, we are to show on the outside what we are on the inside, that we belong to God. We are to do this “that the word of God be not blasphemed” as it says in Titus 2:5. Verse 8 says, “That he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed,” and verse 10 says, “That they may adorn the doctrine and God our Saviour in all things.” In other words, my life is to beautify the truth.
Two themes you find through the book of Titus are sound doctrine and sober living, and they go together. Sound doctrine is opposed to foolish questions and strivings about the law that are unprofitable. Instead of being unprofitable, I am to live a life of good works that are good and profitable to other people. As a believer in Christ, I am accepted in Christ, not because I am great, but because He is gracious. He died for my sins, was buried, and rose again. I’m accepted, but I need to be acceptable in my living. I am to be honest, chaste, loving, courageous, and other things that are specifically mentioned in the book of Titus. So, I am accepted by God, but my life needs to be acceptable unto God.
So, regardless of what country or state you live or in what family you were raised, we can be someone more noble and powerful if we will but submit to the grace of God in our lives. You will either live down to your genetics or up to God’s grace, and because we are eternal beings created by a holy God, we can live a life that we could not and would not, the life that Jesus Christ did live and will live through us to the extent that we are submissive to Him every day.