Those of us who have been studying the book of Titus on
Wednesday nights have seen repeatedly the tie between sound doctrine and
godliness. Paul’s letter to Titus
was occasioned by the presence of people in the churches of Crete who held to
wrong doctrine and lived ungodly lives.
He writes of this crowd both that they were “teaching for shameful gain
what they ought not to teach” and that they were “liars, evil beasts, lazy
gluttons” (1:11-12). Because of
these two things, Paul commanded Titus to rebuke them. The first chapter ends with this
assessment: They profess to know God, but
they deny him by their works.
This concerned Paul primarily because it was discrediting
the gospel. These people claimed
to be Christians, but their ungodly lifestyles dragged Christ’s name through
the mud. Their sinfulness
indicated that this Christ was just like other gods, unable to change
people.
We have noted numerous times that one of the most common
objections to the gospel today is the hypocrisy of Christians. People claim to be Christians and they even
share the gospel, but then they live ungodly lives just like the culture around them.
They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works.
The book of Titus shows that our walk needs to match our
talk. Paul teaches that sound
doctrine accords with godliness (1:1) and godliness accords with sound doctrine
(2:1). There needs to be
both a balance and a consistency between what we say and how we live. We must understand that our witness to
other people will be a combination of the things we say in sharing the gospel
and the things we do in living our lives.
We cannot consider ourselves faithful witnesses if we neglect one of the
two.
Some people think that witnessing is all about the words
we speak. But those who
concentrate on speaking the gospel to the exclusion of living the gospel in
front of people miss the point that our actions sometimes speak louder than our
words. Jesus exhorts us in Matthew
5:16 to “let your light shine before others so that they may see your good
works and give glory to you Father who is in heaven.” Our actions can show people that our God is a God who does
what we say He does. We must be living
a life that validates the gospel we speak.
On the other hand, we must not think that living the
gospel is sufficient. We must also
verbally share the truth with people.
The text of Titus presupposes that the gospel was being shared. We must be opening our mouths and actually telling people
the good news. What good does it
do for someone to see that I am a virtuous, godly person if I do not share with
them the reason for my godly lifestyle?
Romans 10:17 teaches, “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word
of Christ.” A faithful witness is
someone who not only lives the truth, but who also opens his mouth to speak it.
Consider whether or not you lean one way or the
other. Do strive to live a godly
life in the world without verbally sharing the gospel? Or do you share the gospel without
keeping watch on your lifestyle to make sure it commends the gospel? It is never too late to balance the
two. If you have been reluctant to
share the gospel, get started. If
you are concerned that you have destroyed your testimony by demonstrating
ungodliness in front of unbelievers, seek help killing sin in your life so that
those around you will notice the change and find your message more
credible.
We are the light of the world (Matt 5:14). To shine as intended for God’s glory we
must both share and live the gospel.
Posted by Greg Birdwell
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