Titus

Alexander Maclaren, D, D., Litt. D.

 Christians Making The Gospel Beautiful

That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Titus 2:10.

THAT is a wonderful hope to hold forth before any man, that he may add beauty to the gospel. And it is still more wonderful when we remember that these words were originally addressed to a handful of slaves --the lowest of the population, whose lives were passed in sordid squalor; whose duties were narrow and often repulsive, and yet they in their limited sphere and lowly lot might make fairer the truth which is already beautiful with all the beauty of God.

 The School Of Grace

The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching'--Titus 2:11-12.

THE Apostle has been giving fatherly admonitions as to very elementary pieces of morality, addressed to both sexes, and to all ages. He winds up with inculcating on Christian slaves some obvious duties, such as obedience and honesty. In my text he bases all these on what was to him the motive and the power for all sorts of righteous living--viz., the fact of Christ's mission. The for' with which my text begins carries with it the whole relation between Christian thinking and Christian action, and shows us that the loftiest truths are then most honoured when they are brought to bear on the lowliest duties. Slaves are not to pilfer nor wrangle, for the grace that brings salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching.'

Now there are two remarks that I must make of an expository kind in order to come to the understanding of the words before us. One is that the collocation in our Authorised Version, hath appeared to all men,' is not what Paul means, but these last words, to all men,' should be connected with the previous ones, that bringeth salvation.' It is not part of his purpose to declare, what was not in fact true then, and is not true now, that the grace of God has appeared to all men, but it was part of his purpose to declare that that grace brings salvation to all men, howsoever the present range of its manifestation may historically be contracted. The other remark that I would make is that teaching' is by no means a sufficiently comprehensive expression to cover the Apostle's thought, for the word which he employs, whilst it does mean the communication of instruction, carries with it inseparably the other ideas of correcting faults and of chastisement. It is the same which is used in the well-known words, Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.' So that what the Apostle says here is that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, schooling, or training, or disciplining.

 The Purpose Of Grace

That, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.'--Titus 2:12.

To appreciate the full force of these words, we must observe that they are the Apostle's statement of the ultimate design of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and of all the wonderful powers and gifts which Christ brought with Him. In our text, the end for which that grace has appeared and exercises its corrective discipline is defined. It comes' in order that, denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.'

Now, remember that Paul thought that the life and the death of Jesus Christ were the most stupendous of miracles, nothing less than the entrance of divinity in a human form into the limitations of our lives, and His participation in the darkness of our deaths. Remember that he believed that Jesus Christ's coming had led to a continual gift of an actual divine life to men who trusted Him; then you will see the grandeur and significance of the words of my text. What has this divine miracle of mercy been for? Nothing but this, to help men here to-day to live good lives. If there were no future at all, says Paul, the expenditure of the divine love is amply vindicated. The sun does not disdain to shine in order to ripen the vegetables in the humble cottage garden, and the love of God did not conceive that it had too small an object to warrant all that lavish gift which is in Christ, in helping us to live as becomes us. How dear we must be to God, and how infinitely important in His eyes must conduct and character be if such an abundance and variety of divine influences were set in motion to produce such an effect! Now, the first thing that strikes me about these words is the fair picture that they draw of what every life should be; and next, the hard conditions which they impose upon men who would live so; and then, what God has given us to make such lives possible. So I ask you to look at these three points.

 The Happy Hope

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'--Titus 2:13.

THERE are two appearances spoken of in this context --the appearance of the grace of God that bringeth salvation'; and parallel with that, though at the same time contrasted with it, as being in very important senses one in nature and principle, though diverse in purpose and diverse in manner, is what the Apostle here calls the glorious appearing of the great God.'

The antithesis of contrast and of parallel is still more striking in the original than in our version, where our translators have adopted a method of rendering of which they are very fond, and which very often obscures the full meaning of the text. Paul wrote, Looking for that blessed [or happy ] hope, even the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour,' where you see he contrasts, even more sharply than our Bible makes him do, the past appearance of the grace, and the future appearance of the glory.

Then, further, this appearance of the glory: however bright with the terrible beauty and flashing lustre of divine majesty it may be, seems to the Apostle to be infinitely desirable, and becomes to him a happy hope. The reality, when it comes, will be pure joy. The irradiation of its approach shines from afar on his brightening face, and lightens his heart with a hope which is a prophetic joy. And the attitude of the Christian soul towards it is to be that of glad expectation, watching the dawning east and ready to salute the sun.

And yet further, this attitude of happy expectation of the glory is one chief object to be attained by the grace that has appeared. It came' teaching,' or rather (as the word more accurately means)' disciplining, that we should live looking for that happy hope.'

So, then, we have here for our consideration three points embodied in these words--The grace of God has appeared, the glory of God is to appear; the appearance of the glory is a blessed hope; the disciplining of the grace prepares us for the expectation of the glory.

 Christ's Gift Of Himself

Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--Titus 2:14.

WE have seen in former sermons on the preceding context that the Apostle has been setting forth the appearing of the grace of God as having for its great purpose the production of a holy and godly character and conduct. In these words which close the section he returns substantially to the same theme, only, as a great composer will do with some favourite musical movement, he repeats it in a somewhat different key and with variations. The variations are mainly two. Instead of the more general and less definite expression, the grace of God hath appeared,' he now specifies the precise act in which that grace did appear. He gave Himself for us.' Christ's self-sacrifice is the appearing of the grace of God.' The diffused flame is gathered into a focus, and thus concentrated it has appeared to melt hearts. Then there is a second variation in the treatment of the theme here, and that is that the actor is different. In the former case it was we' who, trained by' the appearing of the grace,' were to deny ourselves and live soberly, righteously, and godly.' Here it is He' who redeems and purifies us by His gift of Himself. He and we, the human and the divine, co-operate. If we deny ourselves,' and live soberly, righteously, and godly,' it is because He has redeemed us.' If He has purified us, it is in the measure in which we deny ourselves and yield ourselves to His influences. And so the two views stereoscope and become a solid reality.

Now then, there are three points to which I would turn especially in the words before us--Christ's great self-bestowment, Christ's great emancipation, Christ's great acquisition. He gave Himself,' the great self-bestowment;' that He might redeem us,' the great emancipation; and purify unto Himself a people for a possession,' the great acquisition.

 Zealous Of Good Works

Zealous of good works.'--Titus 2:14.

WE have seen in previous sermons on the preceding context how emphatically the Apostle reiterates that the end of the gospel is the production of Christlike and Christ-pleasing character. For this purpose our Lord came, and in Him the grace of God broke through the clouds which wrapped men in dark folds of ignorance and sin. For this end Christ died, giving Himself for us, that He might redeem us from iniquity and purify unto Himself a people for a possession.' That insistence on practice as the upshot of doctrine is characteristic of the three last letters of the Apostle, which are called the Pastoral Epistles, and it is very natural in an old man. Just as tradition tells us that when John was too feeble to walk, and too old to say much, he was carried Sunday by Sunday into the assembly of the Church to say nothing more than Little children, love one another,' so Paul, having laid the foundations in the great doctrinal Epistles of his early time, now an old man, deals rather with practice than with doctrine. But the practice is, in his mind, the offshoot of, and inseparably connected with, the doctrine, and to pit the one against the other, as some people do nowadays, is to say, I do not care much about root; fruit is what I want'; or, I make little account of what a man eats; what I look to is his muscle and his strength.' But will there be any fruit without a root, or any muscle and strength that is not nourished? Paul's gospel is ethical because it is a gospel.

Now these words of my text are a kind of appendix to what precedes them, in which the Apostle has been sketching the sort of people that Christ's mission and work are intended to make. He says they are to be redeemed, they are to be purified, they are to be won for Christ's own, and to be conscious that they are His; and then he adds this remarkable expression which I have not been able to deal with at length in former sermons, but which is too important to pass by--zealous '--what for?--good works.'

Now I think, if we will consider these words, we shall find that they convey some lessons, always important, and, as it seems to me, extremely important for the Church of this generation.

 Maintaining Good Works

These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.'--Titus 3:8.

THERE is so much about good works' in the so-called Pastoral Epistles (the two to Timothy, and this to Titus), that some Critics who think they have sharp eyes have concluded that Paul was not their author. But surely it is very natural that as a man gets older he shall get more practical, and it is equally natural that he should fight the enemies who are in front of him at the moment, and not thrice slay the slain. Obviously the churches whom he had in view in his letters to Timothy and Titus did not stand in need of the elaborate and far-reaching argumentation of the Epistle to the Romans, or of the great protest against Jewish ritualism in the Epistle to the Galatians, or of the profound teaching about the Church which is in the Epistle to the Ephesians. The foundation had been laid, and, like a sensible man, Paul proceeded to build upon it. So instead of the difference in tone between those more theological letters and this more practical one being a cause of suspicion as to the authorship of the latter, it seems to me to be an argument in favour of the identity of authorship. The variation in tone corresponds to what happens in the case of every thoughtful Christian teacher as he grows in years, and comes to feel more and more that all doctrine is for practice. Here, then, we have the Apostle's last will and testament, so to speak, left to all the churches, that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works.'

According to that, the hall-mark of a Christian is conduct--good works.'

But we must beware of narrowing the meaning of that expression, as is too often done, so as to include in it mainly certain conventional forms of charity or beneficence, like slumming' or tract-distributing, or Sunday-school teaching, and the like. These and such as these are, no doubt, one form of good works, but by no means the whole, and their having all but monopolised the name is one reason why many Christian people fail to apprehend the full significance of New Testament teaching on the subject. These acts are but as a creek in a great sea. Paul tells us what he takes to be included in the designation, when he bids the Philippians think on' whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,' and having thought on them, do them.

I have omitted one word in that quotation, for Paul speaks also of' whatsoever things are lovely.' Loveliness is an essential quality of the highest kind of good works. Many of us know that the Greeks, wise beyond many who have clearer light but duller eyes, used the same word to express goodness and beauty. The Apostle uses that pregnant word in our text, and we should well ponder the teaching given by that word. For it tells Christians that they are to take heed to make their goodness lovely, not to graft grace on a crab-stock,' nor to present a frowning goodness to the world. It is not enough that they who believe in God should be careful to exhibit conduct which commends itself to every man's conscience as right and pure. They should also commend themselves as being fair with a more than earthly beauty, and lustrous with a more than earthly radiance. There are many Christian people who spoil the effect of high-principled, self-sacrificing conduct by forgetting that beautifulness is an essential part of the highest goodness. Sour grapes are not the grapes that are intended to be grown on the true vine.

But now, will you notice, as a further light upon Paul's notion of how to go about growing these grapes, what goes before? These things. I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works.' What are these things'? They are a brief summary of what we call the Gospel'; the evangelical teaching that' the kindness and love of God our Saviour' had appeared,' and that' He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost… that.., we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' In effect Paul says to Timothy: Now keep on insisting upon that.' The word translated affirm constantly' is a very strong one. It means a forcible and continually repeated enunciation, and the plain English of Paul's injunction to Timothy is: Keep on preaching the gospel as the surest way to produce disciples full of good works. People say to us: Come down to daily life and conduct; never mind your dogmas.' If you leave out what these critics mean by dogma, and try to make daily life beautiful without it, you may as well hold your tongue. And the men who forget to affirm' these things constantly,' and preach morals without gospel, are like builders who begin to build on the second story, whose baseless castles in the air are sure to come down in ruins. The true way to produce moral conduct is to bring into clear prominence evangelical truth.

But notice again, it is those which believe in God who will be careful to maintain good works.' That is to say, faith is the productive cause of good works, and good works are, as I said, the hall-mark of faith.' If a man believes, then he will do good works.' The converse must also be true. If a man does not do good works, what, then, about his belief? Show me thy faith without thy works'--that is an impossible demand. The only way to show faith is by our works, and so all attempts to rend them apart, either in theory or in practice, are as absurd as it would be to take a piece of cloth, and try to tear away the inside from the outside. Faith' is the underside, good works' is the upper, and the web is one. Faith is the principle of works; works are the manifestation and making visible of faith.

So now turn for a moment to another point. The Apostle's command here implies a principle, that Christian work should always, and will always, if the faith is genuine, be in advance of all other sorts of good work. That is implied in one of the words used here which means literally be foremost, stand in the front,' and I see no reason why the literal meaning should not be retained here. If it is retained, we have the thought implied--if you are a Christian man you should be ahead of the world in your goodness. You should lead, and not follow, or keep step with those who are not Christians. The Church's morality on the wide scale and individual practice on the narrow, ought to be, and will be, if we are true to the gospel, far in advance of the ordinary opinion and practice of the day in which we live. If we are Christians, we are meant to be leaders, and that means that we shall often, like other leaders, have to endure a great deal of obloquy and calumny from the people whom we are trying to lead, and who are loitering behind us. The Christian Church, as the Apostle James says, is meant to be a kind of first fruits of God's creatures,' ripe before the others, riper than the others always. Does the Christian Church lead the conscience of England to-day? Does it even try to do it? Does it recognise that its function is not to re-echo the morality of the street or of the newspaper, but to peal out the morality of Jesus Christ? Is it enough that Christian people should be as good, as charitable, as beneficent, as much interested in social questions as others, or should have the better, the purer, and the happier lives of the community for their great aim, as much as other people have them? Would it be enough to say' the electric light is about as bright as a tallow candle?' Is it enough to say, Christian people keep abreast of the world's morality?' Let them go in advance, and if they go very far ahead sometimes, none the worse; the laggards will perhaps come up. But at all events, whether they do or not, I will that these things thou affirm constantly, in order that they which believe in God may take the lead in good works.'

And now there is a last point to be noted, and that is the Apostle's warning that, although thus the belief of the gospel, and the faith which springs from the belief, are the spring of good work, yet these will not become ours unless we are careful to stand in front.

What does that carefulness mean? The word implies two things, and the first of them may be put in the shape of an exhortation--bring your brains to bear on these truths that are being thus constantly affirmed.' Bring them into your hearts through your minds, that they may filter into and shape the life. I believe that one main reason why the morality of the Christian Church is not much further in advance of the morality of the world than it is, is because the individual members of the Church do not bring their minds into contact with the great truths of the gospel in such a fashion as they should. Christian practice is thin and poor and inconsistent, because Christian meditation on the gospel and on the Lord of the gospel, is shallow and infrequent. The truths that are to be affirmed' are the fuel that feeds the fire, and if there are no coals put on, the fire will very soon die down. And so there must be' carefulness,' which means the occupation of the mind with the truths that produce holiness of life.

And there must be another thing, there must be a definite and direct and continuous effort to increase our faith. I have been saying that faith is the underside of all noble conduct; and in the measure in which it is strengthened, in that measure accurately will our good works' increase. Suppose Manchester had had two pipes from Thirlmere instead of one, during recent droughts, should we have been in such straits for water? There was plenty in the lake, but we could not get it into our houses because we had not piping enough. There is plenty of power in our gospel and in our God to make us rich in good works.' What is lacking is that we have not that connection, which is made by faith, through which the fulness of God will flow into our lives. If they want to grow crops in Eastern lands they have little to do but to sow the seed and to irrigate. Christ has sown the seed in His gospel. We have to look after the irrigation, and the crops will come of themselves. So our main effort should be to keep ourselves in touch with that great Lord, and to increase the faith by which we make all His powerour very own.

THE END