Titus 3:1

Titus chapter 3, I’m going to read the first two verses, but our focus this morning, or this evening, I should say, is on verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers but gentle, showing all meekness unto all. Amen. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. This story is told that when Confucius was passing the foot of Mount Tyshan in a horse cart, that they came across a woman who was crying over a grave. He asked that the cart be stopped and sent his servant, Zyalu, to go up. and find out what had happened. Well, he walked up to the grave and asked, Madam, we heard you cry, something very sad must have happened. The woman raised her head still sobbing and said, a few years ago, my father-in-law got killed by a tiger. Later, my husband also got killed by a tiger. And now my son has been killed by a tiger. a tiger. Upon hearing this, Confucius asked the woman, since there are tigers here, why don’t you go and live somewhere else? To which the woman answered, this is an out of way of place. The tyranny of the governor, a government does not reach us here. Confucius sighed, said to his companions, you must remember, a tyrannical government, is worse than man-eating tigers. God has something to say about every aspect of your life, your personal life, your family life, your church life, and your civil life. So it should come as no surprise that here in this section of scripture, Paul addresses your duty as a Christian to the civil government. This can be a difficult area because some governments are tyrannical. and you may be naturally tempted to oppose all civil government for the reason that some are tyrannical. But let us look and see what Paul has to say for us here. The scriptures have to teach us in this passage. First, you see a reminder of your Christian duty is necessary. He says, put them in mind. Now, obviously, this is something the ought to already know. Probably has already been taught to them. but here he’s emphasizing it for their memory. Because it’s easy for you to be forgetful of basic Christian truth and basic Christian duties. There are fundamental biblical truths which you as a Christian need to be reminded about. This is why scripture, repetitive information. If you go through the epistles, you’ll find some of the same teaching in each epistle. we saw that between Colossians and Ephesians and so forth. Peter, in his epistle in 1 Peter chapter 1, knowing he was going to die shortly, writes to believers about the things he says they already knew, but his concern was that they might always have these things in remembrance. You don’t forget these things. Because you never reach the point. where you have been so skillfully taught that somehow or other you have no need to go over familiar ground. Your elders may teach things that seem redundant, and yet often reminders are vital to your Christian life. And therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, lest we let them slip. Let them slip away from us. not only is there gross spiritual ignorance of today of fundamental ideas with regard to truth and duties and so forth, but there also is the problem of those who have been properly taught of forgetting what they’ve been taught. The words let them slip in Hebrews 2-1 are taken from the concept of a concept of ship that has been allowed to become a drift on the water. You can imagine a ship being anchored and somehow it breaks loose from the ocean floor. And the danger is now it drifts on the high seas. If you ever done any fishing in the ocean, you may know something about this. If you’re fishing and it’s high tide, you’re fishing, you’re fishing, and it’s high tide, you’ve ever done any fishing fishing fishing. your anchor can slip off its anchorage in the bottom because the boat gets lifted by the tide. You may not even perceive this at first because you’re busy fishing and you’re catching fish and you’re not paying attention, but the next thing you know your boat is drifting. And it may, of course, be even onto the rocks and so forth. You may be hundreds of yards away from where you originally had anchored. Well, this is what can happen in your Christian life. You get caught up in the events. of life, you’re not paying attention, and you forget what you’ve been taught. And before you know, you find yourself in trouble. In the political realm is one such area, and our text is reminding us of this. You can become so enraged, so embittered by the decisions of various political leaders, that you act on feelings rather than thinking about what would go. God have me to do in this situation. And today, I think this is one real danger that we have with the volatile political situation in which we live. So it’s easy to be forgetful of basic Christian duties. Now, it’s sinful for you to be forgetful of basic Christian duties. You are to retain the teachings of Scripture in your mind so that they direct your life. And not to retain them is sinful. in the eyes of God. David said he hid the word of God in his heart so that he wouldn’t sin against the Lord. There has to be a reservoir of truth that we build up in our minds so that we can draw upon it when necessary. Forgetfulness is a sinful thing. You’re warned, be not a forgetful hearer, James 125. Indeed, forgetting may lead to grievance. sin. David once said, thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore doth my soul keep them. If you count God’s word as wonderful, then you’re more likely to remember the truth that you have heard. Sadly, many come to church. They might hear the message of God’s word. They may even give some attention to it while it’s being preached, but if it’s not wonderful to them, if it’s not something they delight in, soon it dress away from. If this is the case with you, then it explains why you may remember so little of what you hear. You’re not giving earnest heed to the things you’ve heard. You recall the parable of the sower that Jesus taught in the New Testament. And if you could visualize the farmer going out with this big sack of seed on the side of his hip, And he’s taking handfuls and spreading it on the ground that he has plowed up in order to have a crop to grow. And Jesus said that his preaching in particular, but preaching is like the sowing of seed into the ground. And you hope the idea is you’re planning it for the harvest. Something would come out of this. But what do we have to worry about? One of the things that Jesus talked about with the birds would come down and snatch up the seed. Of course, it’s out there in the open, and they want to grab it before it gets hold in the earth, and the water hits it, and it starts anchoring itself, and a plant comes up. So they’re busy in a newly-sewed field. They’re busy eating up the loose seed that’s been scattered there. Now, Jesus likens that picture to Satan’s agents coming along and stealing away the Word of God from people, snatching it so that it doesn’t take root. The truths of God never done taking root in the soil, the soul of the soul if it snatched away. Now, Jesus was in particular speaking. about salvation in that passage. But I can apply that same concept to the believer when the Cetus of the Word is taught, Satan would like to keep you forgetful. He would like to snatch it away before it takes root, and maybe you change something behavior in your life and you live differently than you did before. You conduct yourself more in a godly manner. Satan always is busy attempting to undermine. the truth of God’s word, to keep you half asleep, so to speak, so you can snatch away the truth. Don’t merely fulfill your duty to be in church, take it the light in the word so that it is something you are not forgetful of. The forgetful hearer is never a doer of the word. May God grant you a heart that loves God’s law, and therefore you focus on obeying it. So here’s a reminder. if you’re a Christian duty, put them in mind. Now, you have a Christian duty towards civil authorities. Now, you need to acknowledge the authority of civil leaders. Now, there are three types of leaders he mentions here. He mentions principalities. He mentions powers, and he also mentions magistrates. They all have to do with the government. We might divide this up in this way. Principalities, the right? The word principalities here has to do with beginning, something that’s first, the origin. We could say perhaps that these are those that are rulers of the highest authority, the top rulers. Powers here is used to men who have been given authority. We might put them more in the mid-level type of rulers. And magistrates, we might put as… the more local rulers, maybe the mayor of Bethel or something of this nature. Whereas the powers you might, maybe we would put them more in governors or something of this nature. So these general expressions which are used here include government officials at all levels. We could talk about the top in Paul’s Day would be Caesar, the rules from Rome. He’s the emperor. We could talk about the governors. And those who are in power. Remember, Pilate was a governor and so forth. And then there are those who may be more localized people. What God’s word then demands is you recognize the authority. All these different rulers, different classes of rulers, Now, we live in a day in an age where the social contract theory is the common teaching of the day. The social contract theory is that some have supposed that the legitimate authority of human government has its basis in what is known as the consent of the governed. There’s much talk, and you’ll probably hear it when we have the election coming up here in my day. 10 or 11 days or whatever it is, you’re going to hear about the will of the people. The government exists because we voluntarily commit ourselves to certain men to whom we have given authority to government. That’s the basic teaching you’re going to hear. And that government may be abolished when independent individuals deem it necessary in order to further their own self-interest. that is not the biblical view. That is not what the scripture teaches about government. The scripture teaches that all human government is divinely appointed. Now hold your place here, but look with me at Romans chapter 13 in verses 1 to 7. Romans 13 and verses 1 to 7. Paul writes here about the government. He says, Let every soul. be subject under the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. for he is a 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. Wherefore ye must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience’s sake. For this cause, pay ye tribute also, for they are God’s worth. ministers attending continually under this very thing. Render, therefore, to all their dues. Tribute to whom tributed is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Where does the power or the authority of government originate? The scripture says it originates with God. Not with the will of the people. the consent of the governed. It comes from God. For there is no power but of God. That he places people in power. The word of God testifies it is God who sets up governments, even bad ones. And he also takes them down as well. You might say, why would God give us a bad government? You know, 10 years ago, when I was at the gym, I was talking to an FBI agent about the political landscape and it was a presidential election. and he said he didn’t think that one particular candidate would get in. God wouldn’t let that happening. I said yes he might. he might, even though I thought this person would be a bad president. I said God sometimes gives bad leaders in order to punish people. Here’s the passage, Josea 1311. The Bible says this in the history of Israel, I gave the king in mine anger and took him away in my rap. I angrily gave you this king. You weren’t going to follow my will. I’ll give you a king that is not a good king for you. Every ruler from the top to the bottom rung of government, in the final analysis, all is his or her appointment, to the right and the right to govern to God. Look how many times he says in Romans 13 here, this person is the minister of God. He’s not the servant of the people, per se. He’s the minister. He’s supposed to be serving God. He’s supposed to be doing what God has appointed for him to do. It’s by his will and providence that they have been appointed to maintain order. Encourionionary. Encourage well-doing. Punish the wrongdoer. Collect even taxes. Victor Hugo left us an interesting little story about the battle of Waterloo. The battle that changed really the face of Europe at that point. On the morning of the battle, Napoleon, the little dictator, stood on the battlefield and described to his commanding officers his strategy for that particular day’s campaign. A direct frontal assault on the English left, and then that would be followed up by a smashing attack through the English center after they’ve been weakened. That was the plan. We’ll put the infantry here, he said, we’ll put the cavalry over here, we’ll put the artillery here. At the end of the day, England will be at the feet of France, and Wellington will be the prisoner of the polling. After a pause, one of his commanding officers, according to Victor Hugo, said this, but we must not forget that man proposes, but God disposes. To which Napoleon, stretching himself to a full length, replied, I want you understand, sir, that Napoleon disposes, and Napoleon disposes. Well, Eugel went on to write that a heavy rain came that morning, and some hail along with it, and it disrupted all Napoleon’s plant. The ground was soggy so that they didn’t get the ricochet activity from the cannon fire that they expected. France had the heavier artillery and could take advantage of the British who did not have that as much or as heavy artillery as Napoleon did. It also delayed the commencement of the battle. In all that time, the Prussians were given time to, advance, reorganize, and advance against the French right flank, and it came at the crucial moment in the battle, and it saved Wellington from defeat. On the night of the battle, it was Napoleon that had lost to Wellington, and Napoleon was no longer Emperor of France. His kingdom was gone forever. God took care of that situation. question. He ruled, you know, he sets them up and he takes them down, and here he took the polion out of power completely. Seeing that human government is created by God, seeing that he is actively involved in the raising up and putting down rulers, as he tells us in Daniel 221, he changes the times and the seasons, he removeth kings and sett up kings. Seeing that is the case, we should take this matter, Seriously. It is God who is in charge. It’s interesting in the book of Psalms, chapter 2 of Psalms, the second Psalm. The latter, the last verse of the Psalm is directed, verse 12, is directed to kings. Be wise now, therefore, kings, and be instructed you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. You’re supposed to be the servant of God, you see. Serve the Lord. Kiss the son, lest ye be angry, and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little, lest he take you out of power. So you need to acknowledge the authority of civil leaders, and it comes from God. Now, you must not be the cause of civil unrest. He says here in our text of scripture, to be subject to, to obey these rulers. According to the writings of Polybius and Plutarch, the Eccresians, were fretting and fuming under the Roman government rule. They were not happy campers. At one time, the island was a haven for pirates who would, you know, rob the ships, you know, Roman ships or wherever ships were on the high seas of their goods and so forth. Certainly the general attitude was one which did not think very highly of submitting to the law. add to this the fact that the Jews had an inbred hostility toward Roman authority, and there was a violent anti-Roman campaign that was building in the first century. People were beginning to want to throw off. The Jews wanted to throw off the Roman rules, and they had zealots that would violently act as what they call, you know, freedom fighters to free. Israel from Roman rule. Barabbas was one of those kind of individuals. So these Jewish rebels were seeking to overthrow the Roman rule in Israel, and many Jewish Christians were also among those on the island of Crete. So there’s a double-whammy situation here, not only was the Cretians or the Cretians in themselves, seemingly resistant toward the Roman rule. But you could imagine that some of the Jews might have imbibed the zealot spirit and wanted to also overthrow the Roman rule. That’s a volatile mix for civil unrest. And now you can understand Paul emphasizing this duty. You know, put them in mind of this, be subject to and obey, be respectful of, obey the rulers that are in power. Obedience is a willingness to follow all lawful commands of the government. Paul states let every soul be subject under higher powers, under the higher powers, and he in Romans 131. Christians must be law-abiding citizens. Christians ought to be the best citizens that a king or a ruler could have. should be respectful to all civil authority. Our attitude toward the office, our speech, our compliance to civil law. There are occasions, however, when the Christian must resist the civil government. And that is when the government usurps God’s authority. The principle that we follow is we ought to obey God rather than man. God is God is higher. than government. He appoints government. Therefore, if God gives us a command, it supersedes any government command that you’re given. The command of God takes precedence. For example, when Daniel was told, and indeed the command and decree of the king was you are not to pray to any other God, only do the king make your request. He defied the law of the Medes and Persians, opened his windows as he always did and prayed toward Jerusalem. Of course, he gets arrested, he gets thrown in the lions down because of it. But he was right. You must obey civil leaders, except when to do so, would violate a command of God. Daniel was obligated to pride of his God. He prays anyhow. He disobeys. When to do so would cause you to command of God. an immoral or unethical act. In the book of Exodus in early chapters, remember that Pharaoh was out to reduce the Jewish population and throw all the male babies into the Nile River to drown them or have them eaten by animals or crocodiles or whatever, to kill them off, get rid of them. The midwives were told didn’t obey Pharaoh’s order. They didn’t listen. were they right not to listen? Yes. Because he should not have commanded the killing of human beings. He has no right to do that. You should obey civil leaders, except when to do so would go against your conscience, which should be in submission to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. You remember when Naboth refused to sell his vineyard to King Ahab. Let me buy your vineyard. It’s next door. No, this is my inheritance. You know, my family had this by a lot. I’m not going to sell it. It went against his conscience to sell it. He didn’t have to sell it. And he was right not to listen to the king and do it. If it was his and his family’s inheritance, he didn’t have to sell it. Now, you may experience some tension sometimes about what to do when the government attempts to control the whole. whole of your life, from cradle to grave. When it comes to education, when they’re teaching evolution and God denying humanism and situation ethics, we don’t follow that teaching. We don’t go along with that. When it comes to parenting, when there’s interference with parents raising and discipline their children, the state has no business in that. The state may think that it owns the children, it does not. God gave you those children. You’re the guardian of those children. When it comes to sexual reproduction, there’s the promotion of abortion. In some countries, there’s child limitation, like in China. Or when it comes to government sex education is all about promiscuity. When it comes to medical decisions, abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, mercy killings, whatever the case may be. You don’t have to obey the government in these areas if they goes contrary to what the word of God says. When it comes to moral thinking, legalizing what God said is sin, whether it be abortion, whether it be prostitution, would it be homosexual acts, even marriage? It doesn’t matter. What God says is right. So you must be submissive of obedient to the state as long as long as you must be submissive. as it doesn’t conflict with what God says it is worth. So the general teaching here is be submissive, be obedient. So you have a Christian duty towards civil authorities. Now there are good reasons for you to obey this Christian duty. The first good reason is God has command you to do so. Let it be clearly understood that the words of our text here, though they are written by Paul, they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. They are the commands of God. This is not Paul’s opinion. Paul’s not giving you a suggestion here on what would might be best for you. You claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ? You claim to believe that the Bible is a God-given book? Well, then to reject this duty to submit and obey civil authorities is to disobey God himself. remember how our Lord responded to that trick question that was asked them by the, asking by the Pharisees and the Herodians, is it lawful to pay tribute, or to give tribute, to pay taxes, to Caesar or not? Remember that question? Remember what he answered to that question? Render to Caesar to things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are gods. Now, in that single statement, Paul, Christ established the Christian obligation to obey civil law, to be subject to civil authorities, while at the same time limiting the power of those government authorities. He is telling us that there are certain areas that don’t belong to Caesar. There’s things that belong to Caesar? There are things that belong to God, and there are, you know, things don’t belong to Caesar. Some of those things don’t belong to Caesar. He has no business in those areas. Now, paying taxes, that’s Caesar’s business. He’s okay in that area. When he starts teaching us how to live our lives morally and what we must do with regard to worship or things of this nature, that’s not his place. Those are the things of God. So Jesus gives us the definitive treatment here, does he not? So you’re commanded to do so, God. It’s good for you to do so. You notice that every Christian should yield obedience to God ordained authorities for as Romans 134 tells us, for he is the minister of God to thee for good, for your good, for your benefit. These leaders have a duty to preserve order in society, to approve good behavior, to punish evil or bad, bad behavior, even with the sword, even with the death penalty, if necessary. Now, you’ll notice that Paul, in writing Romans 13, didn’t say, well, I’m not talking about Caesar because after all, he claims to be a God, and look, he’s an evil person. No, in this area, this is his duty. He’s supposed to serve God by doing these things, and as long as he’s doing these things, that’s what you should be obeying him. it’s for your good. A civil ruler, even a bad one, is better than no ruler at all. It’s better than anarchy. When there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes, it was chaos. Anarchy opens the doors for all sorts of sinful behavior unrestrained by some type of civil power. You see it on our streets, where the anarchists, you know, take over a section, out there in Portland, you know, blocking traffic, deciding what they’re going to do, you know, hitting cars and just being, you know, nasty to people, or tearing up government property or tearing down this or that or the other. Is this what you want? This is what you get with anarchy when there is no one acting as a civil authority? That’s not good. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone you consider a bad ruler? if they kept law and order. Even a tyrant in government leadership is good if he defend you against robbers and murderers and thieves and sexual predators and unscrupulous businessmen. Law and order is good for the gospel’s sake. It normally allows you to worship peaceably and also allows for the spread of the gospel of Christ. So it’s good for you. It’s also dangers to be rebellious. Let’s look at this other aspect. most professing Christians don’t advocate lawlessness or civil disobedience. However, it’s becoming a growing trend. I think in seminaries, I think there’s more an emphasis on, you know, civil disobedience and things of this nature being taught. There are so-called religious friends groups who think that blowing up an abortion clinic or shooting an abortion doctor is the right thing to do. Left-wing groups often use that kind of tactic. idealistic young people are frequently motivated to defy government authorities in many areas. You can have radical militia groups and so forth. Here’s what Proverbs tells us, the Book of Wisdom, verses 21 and 22 of Chapter 24. My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, the top authority and the one underneath him. And meddle not with them. that are given to change. Don’t throw your lot in with those who are going to be rebellious. For their calamities shall rise suddenly. And who knoweth what the ruin of them, who knoweth the ruin of them both, meaning the Lord and the king? What kind of destruction they’re going to rain down upon you? Don’t meddle. Don’t get yourself involved in that. Remember the account of Zimri, who assassinated King Basa. And he said, to the throne of Israel. And of course, he didn’t last very long because he was hopefully trapped in the city of Turza by the Israelite army, and he committed suicide by burning down the palace in which he resided. Consider Absalom as he tried to steal the kingdom away from Israel. Look at his end and how he was put to death. Shiba led a rebellion against King David, and he ends up being beheaded. So keep in mind how David, however, are just the opposite. it refused to touch the Lord’s anointed, to lay a hand on King Saul, even though King Saul was evil in trying to kill him and harm him. Our Lord reminded Peter that, you know, if you wield the sword and you start, you know, fighting here, and even though he cut off the high priest’s ear, Jesus healed the ear, remember. And he said, if you do this, he said, those who live by the Lord, The sword shall die by the sword. Our weapons are not carnal. Our weapons are spiritual in nature. That doesn’t mean we can’t defend ourselves against attack and have some type of family and protection. But for the purpose of overthrowing the government, I mean, that’s the wrong approach, is what we’re told. The enemy, of Israel, when they invaded their homeland, we find that God raised up judges to deal with these enemy invaders and suppressed these governments by the sword. This is a special case. Church and state were wedded together later on when Israel went into Babylonian captivity. God sent the message to them, well, get comfortable, adjust to it, do the best you can, make the best of the situation, I’m going to bring you back out eventually. Rebellion is not Christ’s way, and our kingdom is not of this world. It’s not a political kingdom, but a spiritual one. We should keep that in mind, and a reconstructionist should keep that in mind also. So there are good reasons for you to obey this Christian duty. Well, let me close by saying this. A bad government may be worse than tigers, but no government would be far more terrible situation altogether. God. God has ordained the human government for the good of his people ultimately for the promotion of his own glory. And therefore we are to be submissive and obedient to lawful authority. We should pray for civil authorities. Paul, in writing to Timothy, he said this, I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men. And then he explains what he means by all men here. For kings, for all that are in authority. One of the individuals that we ought to be thinking about are, or is the king. Who’s the top ruler? The president. Who is underneath them in our country? Well, there are senators. There are representatives. There are local authorities. All those people we ought to be thinking about in our prayers. Why? That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. In all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. This is what would please the Lord for us to pray for them, that they would do the right thing, that they would govern properly, and so forth. This is what we’re commanded to do. And in our case, we shouldn’t be raising arms up against the government. We might want to raise our hands in prayer in dealing with the government, but not raising up arms. We can always pray that God would change the government we have. The prayers of the saints are important. I, who is it, the of Scotland that feared feared the prayers of Knox more than she did armies because these prayers were powerful and so we should be thinking about praying and using prayer is the means changing things and not violence for the word of prayer for the word of prayer tonight