If ever there were a message for our time, it is the Biblical Book of Titus. This compact revelation of God to man is a concise summing up of, and warning to, people of all generations.
And if, like so many who claim that simply because a book is “old” it therefore offers nothing to those alive today, we are tempted to scoff that the Bible’s context could ever be relevant to our own, look no further than Titus to bust that bubble of nonsense.
(And I say nonsense, because most, if not all people, who condemn Scripture simply because it is old, have never actually read it, or have never read it with the Spirit of the Holy Spirit guiding them into the truth of it).
Let’s see if the words of Titus don’t portray today’s climate of chattering heads on television “talk” news programs, political ads, Facebook, and at office coffee depots, local watering holes and even, unfortunately, Thanksgiving gatherings:
“For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers…” (1:10)
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (3:3).
You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.” (3:11)
There we have it.
Mere (some translations say “empty” or “meaningless”) talk and deception (i.e. outright lies).
Why? Why have people worked themselves into malicious, envious hate in order to drive home their political, social and personal-identity agendas?
Titus provides the answer: because the motivations of fomented individuals are rebellious and disobedient, resulting in the foolish chatter all around that deceives and divides, envies and hates. These motivations derive from enslavement to warped, malicious and sinful passions and pleasures.
And yet, the joke is on the mere talkers and deceivers. Because Titus informs unequivocally that, “in all these ways we condemn ourselves" (Titus 3:11).
When the intent is to condemn the other party, organization, football player, team, corporation, people group, public servant, etc., the condemnation is, in fact, brought onto us alone!
We condemn ourself.
We are not victims.
When conducting ourselves in the above manner, I condemn me and you condemn you.
Now, the dilemma is that people of the world will never see their motivations as being self-condemning, because they operate out of self-righteousness. If we had to name a motivation behind the motivations, it would be self-righteousness.
That is the root of rebelliousness that leads, in the end, to self-condemnation.
dictionary.com defines self-righteous as:
“Confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others.”
We must also define intolerant:
“Not respecting beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc. different from one’s own…unable or unwilling to endure…”
So while the world defines tolerance to mean “fully accept and embrace,” tolerate means no such thing.
If intolerance means lack of respect, then tolerance means to respect.
To respect the liberty of others to form and live out beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc. different from one’s own (within the law and constitution, of course).
Respect does not mean one must accept.
It does not mean one has to accept or condone a choice, mannerism, word usage, or lifestyle of someone else, and it does not mean I must accept it for myself. Respect lives and lets live, within the law and constitution.
As Christians, it means we stop expecting non-Christians to act as Christians, or to even begin to understand our worldview.
Respect, however, does not mean we have to re-write or re-interpret Scripture so as to tolerate others.
Respect simply means that we live in peace with one another, as much as it is up to us (Romans 12:17-21), and we do that by loving others through the respect that they were created by God, just as we were.
Living at peace with one another does not mean we are to enable, condescend to, adopt, or endorse anything which forfeits Gospel Truth for universalism, relativism, or a forgery of “love” which demands that one person can be who they are but nobody can be a Biblical Christian.
Respect is what the Bible calls for. It is what Jesus did. But Jesus also advised his apostles to not waste their breath:
“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Yes, Jesus left people to themselves who were not interested in living in His light but who preferred instead to live in their darkness (John 3:19).
He wiped the dust off His feet and left.
He did not character assassinate. He did not go on "talk radio” (the public courtyard) and self-defensively misconstrue and make false or exaggerated accusations against those who disagreed with Him, or who ignored Him, or who overtly scoffed at Him.
He moved on to engage people who were receptive to Him, and even then, a lot of what Jesus said was in question, not telling, form! I mean, check it out…Jesus spoke in parables and questions. Yes, he also laid out commands. He made things clear. But He left it up to each and every individual to do as they chose without deception, or stretching the truth, or publicly slamming an opponent.
He respected people’s choice to the point of tears (Luke 19:41-42), and when He knew He had reached a dead end with His gentle influence and Truth, He didn’t force anything (Mark 6:5-6; Matthew 13:58).
Those who are yet worldly—and this can include Christians—have fused their inner personal self-righteousness with their personally-perceived and self-defined sense of justice.
And they take that “sense of justice” onto Facebook and other public and social places, and proselytize their soundbites no different than a fire and brimstone street preacher, never slowing down long enough to wipe away the prolific sweat they are breaking into in order to check what is being said against facts, or to see their opponent as a fellow human being.
They never
Turn.
Off.
The.
Noise.
And they condemn themselves.
We, if at any time this is us, condemn ourselves.
I hope to continue this post on Titus in the coming days.
Copyright Barb Harwood
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