Posts with the category “17-titus”

Turn Away From What Divides, Turn Toward What Transforms Titus 3:8 CSB – But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless. Paul draws a sharp contrast between what is trustworthy and life-changing — God's kindness, mercy, regeneration, renewal, justification by grace, and the hope of eternal life — and what is unprofitable and worthless — foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes that generate heat but no light. Human nature gravitates toward argument and controversy, and every generation has its version of the endless disputes Paul warns against, whether first-century legal debates or twenty-first-century political discourse that divides without transforming. The word "avoid" literally means to turn yourself around and face the other way — an active, deliberate choice to redirect our attention and energy toward what actually bears eternal fruit. Instead of leading with opinions and arguments, lead with the trustworthy word of God — because it alone is profitable and good for everyone, and it alone has the power to change lives, build up the church, and advance the gospel.  Read More

Grace Doesn't Just Save You — It Schools You Titus 2:11-14 CSB - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. Grace is far more than the doorway into salvation — it is the ongoing teacher that trains us in how to live, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to walk in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age. Like a parent shaping a child through teaching, encouragement, correction, and discipline, grace does its formative work in us daily — and those who use it as a license to sin have fundamentally misunderstood what grace actually is and what it produces. The same grace that saved us also gives us hope, anchoring our eyes on the blessed appearing of Jesus Christ, and inspires us toward good works — not works to earn anything but works that flow naturally from hearts transformed by what we have freely received. Grace saves, instructs, and fuels — and the believer who submits to its training will find themselves not looking for excuses to sin but eager to be freed from it.   Read More

One Way, One Truth, One Common Faith Titus 1:4 CSB - To Titus, my true son in our common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. A common faith is not a lowest-common-denominator agreement that softens every conviction to avoid offense — it is a shared foundation in the one essential truth that cannot be compromised: Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, the only one who can atone for sin, and the only source of the grace and peace that define our lives as believers. Through His finished work, we have received grace — God's riches at Christ's expense — resulting in forgiveness, regeneration, and freedom from condemnation, and from that grace flows a twofold peace: peace with God, who no longer sees us as enemies but as beloved children, and the peace of God, a supernatural assurance that surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts. The ancient truth holds as true today as ever — in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity — and the essential that unites us is the same one that has always been at the center: Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Everything else can be held with open hands, but that cannot.  Read More