johnmarkharris.net

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We are saved by grace, I hope there’s no doubt about that in anyone’s mind, but that doesn’t mean we’re free to live however we want. “God forbid!” is how the Apostle Paul would respond to that kind of thinking (in King James at least 🙂 ). There’s nothing we do to earn our salvation, it all comes from God, yet we are called to live holy lives. It makes a difference how you live. If you’re saved, then the Spirit is within you, and He WILL make a difference. If there is no FRUIT (of the Spirit) then perhaps there’s no ROOT (the Spirit). Be holy, live correctly, don’t blow-off your responsibility to live up to our high calling, you may be on shaky ground.

3 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Now there’s a novel idea. What if we all lived like that?

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

The Christian should have nothing to do with the ungodliness of the world, people who follow their own passions. Our lives should be marked by the discipline of self-control. God’s mission is work, and we should be about it. It’s our job do declare to the world what is good, pure, and right. We need to encourage fellow Christians to have nothing to do with ungodliness and to rebuke those who brush it off as not a big deal. That’s our calling…

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you

Ministry is not simply the commitment of time and energy to a task, even if it is not stated, part of your task is to recruit others to join you. You shouldn’t do anything altogether alone in the Church. Inevitably there will come a time when your task is done, something might come up, you may move, or you might even graduate to your heavenly reward… but what about that task? Who will continue YOUR work “well, that’s the church’s problem…” is true only in the sense that YOU are the church too. You should have someone to fill-in for you every time you are away (for whatever reason), don’t think that’s someone else’s job to find YOUR replacement… own your job, it’s a good work given to you by God! Paul did the same, when he was gone, there were many to take up his ministry… start recruiting your replacements today!

[Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is by nature divine, He is God. But that kind of status wasn’t something He was willing to hold on to at any cost, not at the cost of not spending eternity with a people He could call His own. Jesus laid aside this right of majesty by becoming a servant in stead of the Sovereign. Though He’s always existed, He was born just like any other man. And even at that, He did not take His rightful place as though the greatest of men, but He was obedient even to death. This death wasn’t simply the academic choice to have His life ended, it was the worst kind of death imaginable, torture on a cross. Because of what Jesus did, Jesus as not left in His humble estate, but He was lifted back to His rightful place. Death could not hold the King. One day, every person will bow their knee to Jesus. You can do it now and live with Him forever, or you can do it later and be excluded from his presence for all eternity. The choice is yours, follow Jesus’ example.