Living Beautifully In A Broken World
Living Like Someone God Has Changed
There are certain things in life we already know. We do not need new information. We just need a reminder.
Think about the familiar dings and alerts that punctuate daily life. The seatbelt chime in the car. The phone alarm reminding you to take your medicine. The note on the counter about changing the air filter. Nobody hears these reminders and thinks they have discovered something revolutionary. The problem was never ignorance. The problem is that we forget.
The same is true for followers of Jesus. Sometimes the most powerful thing the church can do is not introduce brand new ideas but return to the foundational truths we already know and live them out with fresh intentionality. That is exactly the kind of reminder found in Titus chapter 3, where the Apostle Paul instructs a young preacher named Titus to remind the church how to live among people who do not yet know Jesus.
Submitted, Ready, and Gentle
Paul opens with a surprisingly practical list. He tells Titus to remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, and always gentle toward everyone.
These are not complicated instructions. But they are convicting ones.
In a cultural moment defined by suspicion of authority, contempt for those who hold different views, and an instinct to resist anyone who dares tell us what to do, Paul calls Christians to something visibly different. He is not calling for blind obedience or unquestioning allegiance. He is calling for a willing posture of humility toward the legitimate authorities God has placed in our lives, whether that is a government official, an employer, a coach, a parent, or a church elder.
Romans 13 verse 1 reinforces this, reminding us that no authority exists apart from what God has established. Human authority, at every level, ultimately operates beneath the authority of God. And when earthly authority demands disobedience to God, Christians obey God and accept whatever consequences follow. But that exception does not become the rule. The rule is humble, submitted, peaceable living.
Paul also calls Christians to be ready to do good. That word ready is worth pausing on. It implies anticipation. It implies that a follower of Jesus should wake up looking for the opportunities God has already placed in front of them. Ephesians 2 verse 10 tells us that we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do. The good is already out there. The question is whether we are paying attention.
What would change if every morning began with a simple prayer: Father, what good have you put in front of me today?
Remember Who You Were
Before Paul calls the church to live differently, he reminds them of something uncomfortable. In Titus 3 verse 3, he writes that at one time, all of us were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hated and hating one another.
Notice that Paul says we. Not them. Not those people out there who have not figured it out yet. We. Paul includes himself, he includes Titus, he includes the church, and he includes us.
This is not an exercise in shame. It is an exercise in humility. Because how differently would we treat people who are far from God if we remembered that we, too, were once far from God? Remembering our own story before Jesus has a way of softening us. It keeps us from looking down on the very people Jesus came to rescue. It keeps us grateful. It keeps us gentle.
Romans 3 verse 23 does not leave anyone out. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us arrived at the foot of the cross from the same broken starting point.
Remember What God Did
But Paul does not leave us in verse 3. He moves to one of the most stunning transitions in all of Scripture. Verse 4 begins: but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.
Everything changes with those words.
God did not wait for humanity to clean itself up. He did not hold out for people who had done enough righteous things to deserve his attention. Romans 5 verse 8 makes this plain, telling us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The mission of Jesus, as recorded in Luke 19 verse 10, was to seek and to save the lost. He came looking for the foolish, the deceived, the enslaved, and the broken. He came for people exactly like us.
Titus 3 verse 5 is unambiguous about how salvation works. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Mercy means God looks at people who deserve judgment and chooses instead to move toward them with compassion and love. And what that salvation produces in a person is nothing short of remarkable. Paul describes it in three movements.
First, God washes us. He gives new birth, what Jesus calls being born again in John chapter 3. Second, God renews us. He does not simply forgive us and leave us to figure out the rest on our own. He gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our lives, convicting us of sin, reminding us of truth, comforting us in suffering, and continually transforming us more into the likeness of Christ. Romans 12 verse 2 calls this the renewing of the mind. Third, God justifies us. He declares us righteous in his sight, not because we have earned it, but because of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
The result of all of this? We become heirs to his kingdom, with the hope of eternal life stretching out before us.
A Church That Carries Jesus Everywhere
Paul closes this passage in Titus 3 verse 8 by returning to where he started. He urges those who have trusted in God to devote themselves to doing what is good. And he adds that these things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
That last phrase matters. When the gospel takes root in a person, the people around them are supposed to benefit. Homes should be healthier. Workplaces should be more honest. Neighborhoods should be more generous. Communities should be transformed. Not because Christians are superior, but because they carry something the world desperately needs.
We do not do good to become God's people. We do good because we are God's people.
The church is not built to last by what happens in a room for an hour on Sunday. It is built to last when the people who gather there carry Jesus into every ordinary moment of every ordinary week, ready to do the good God has already prepared for them to do.
So the reminder stands. Remember who you were. Remember what God did. And live like someone he has changed.
There are certain things in life we already know. We do not need new information. We just need a reminder.
Think about the familiar dings and alerts that punctuate daily life. The seatbelt chime in the car. The phone alarm reminding you to take your medicine. The note on the counter about changing the air filter. Nobody hears these reminders and thinks they have discovered something revolutionary. The problem was never ignorance. The problem is that we forget.
The same is true for followers of Jesus. Sometimes the most powerful thing the church can do is not introduce brand new ideas but return to the foundational truths we already know and live them out with fresh intentionality. That is exactly the kind of reminder found in Titus chapter 3, where the Apostle Paul instructs a young preacher named Titus to remind the church how to live among people who do not yet know Jesus.
Submitted, Ready, and Gentle
Paul opens with a surprisingly practical list. He tells Titus to remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, and always gentle toward everyone.
These are not complicated instructions. But they are convicting ones.
In a cultural moment defined by suspicion of authority, contempt for those who hold different views, and an instinct to resist anyone who dares tell us what to do, Paul calls Christians to something visibly different. He is not calling for blind obedience or unquestioning allegiance. He is calling for a willing posture of humility toward the legitimate authorities God has placed in our lives, whether that is a government official, an employer, a coach, a parent, or a church elder.
Romans 13 verse 1 reinforces this, reminding us that no authority exists apart from what God has established. Human authority, at every level, ultimately operates beneath the authority of God. And when earthly authority demands disobedience to God, Christians obey God and accept whatever consequences follow. But that exception does not become the rule. The rule is humble, submitted, peaceable living.
Paul also calls Christians to be ready to do good. That word ready is worth pausing on. It implies anticipation. It implies that a follower of Jesus should wake up looking for the opportunities God has already placed in front of them. Ephesians 2 verse 10 tells us that we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to do. The good is already out there. The question is whether we are paying attention.
What would change if every morning began with a simple prayer: Father, what good have you put in front of me today?
Remember Who You Were
Before Paul calls the church to live differently, he reminds them of something uncomfortable. In Titus 3 verse 3, he writes that at one time, all of us were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hated and hating one another.
Notice that Paul says we. Not them. Not those people out there who have not figured it out yet. We. Paul includes himself, he includes Titus, he includes the church, and he includes us.
This is not an exercise in shame. It is an exercise in humility. Because how differently would we treat people who are far from God if we remembered that we, too, were once far from God? Remembering our own story before Jesus has a way of softening us. It keeps us from looking down on the very people Jesus came to rescue. It keeps us grateful. It keeps us gentle.
Romans 3 verse 23 does not leave anyone out. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us arrived at the foot of the cross from the same broken starting point.
Remember What God Did
But Paul does not leave us in verse 3. He moves to one of the most stunning transitions in all of Scripture. Verse 4 begins: but when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.
Everything changes with those words.
God did not wait for humanity to clean itself up. He did not hold out for people who had done enough righteous things to deserve his attention. Romans 5 verse 8 makes this plain, telling us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The mission of Jesus, as recorded in Luke 19 verse 10, was to seek and to save the lost. He came looking for the foolish, the deceived, the enslaved, and the broken. He came for people exactly like us.
Titus 3 verse 5 is unambiguous about how salvation works. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Mercy means God looks at people who deserve judgment and chooses instead to move toward them with compassion and love. And what that salvation produces in a person is nothing short of remarkable. Paul describes it in three movements.
First, God washes us. He gives new birth, what Jesus calls being born again in John chapter 3. Second, God renews us. He does not simply forgive us and leave us to figure out the rest on our own. He gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our lives, convicting us of sin, reminding us of truth, comforting us in suffering, and continually transforming us more into the likeness of Christ. Romans 12 verse 2 calls this the renewing of the mind. Third, God justifies us. He declares us righteous in his sight, not because we have earned it, but because of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
The result of all of this? We become heirs to his kingdom, with the hope of eternal life stretching out before us.
A Church That Carries Jesus Everywhere
Paul closes this passage in Titus 3 verse 8 by returning to where he started. He urges those who have trusted in God to devote themselves to doing what is good. And he adds that these things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
That last phrase matters. When the gospel takes root in a person, the people around them are supposed to benefit. Homes should be healthier. Workplaces should be more honest. Neighborhoods should be more generous. Communities should be transformed. Not because Christians are superior, but because they carry something the world desperately needs.
We do not do good to become God's people. We do good because we are God's people.
The church is not built to last by what happens in a room for an hour on Sunday. It is built to last when the people who gather there carry Jesus into every ordinary moment of every ordinary week, ready to do the good God has already prepared for them to do.
So the reminder stands. Remember who you were. Remember what God did. And live like someone he has changed.
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