Teaching - Do Good
Do What Is Good
"Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone."
-Apostle Paul writing to the Leader of the 1st church in the island of Crete, 1st century
Titus 3:1-2 in the New Living Translation
[This is the 12th lesson of this series]
The Apostle Paul and his missionary team preached in the island of Crete as we read in the Book of Acts. In his letter written to Titus, Paul mentioned that he left Titus there so that he can oversee the 1st church in that island.
In the previous lesson of this series, we spoke about how Paul instructed Timothy to keep his cool. In this lesson, we will discuss how Paul instructed Titus to be respectful of their government.
This was obviously not because their government leaders were "respectable" people. In the contrary it is most probably because they weren't. Otherwise there would have been no reason for Paul to even remind him to do that. There would have been no need to.
Respect
We understand that respect begets respect. But as we read from the Book of Romans that those in authority were placed there in their position by God, or at least allowed to be placed in that position. And we are to respect their authority.
Law Abiding Citizens
Although certainly it is not hard to understand why as Christians, we should be seen as law abiding citizens. We are of course citizens of heaven for which we are to abide by the rules of heaven. So as we are also still on earth, citizens of whatever country we are planted on, we are to abide by its rules. And it is not by accident that we live where we do, this is all by God's design.
We, of course, may choose to be transplanted elsewhere or to another country (if we can and God willing). So if there is really no way for us (in good conscience) to respect the authority instituted in our land, then we can choose to be citizens of another nation.
Now wherever we are planted on, God expects us, His people to be obedient people, always ready to do good, and always ready to lend a helping hand. We are not to slander, insult, smear or misrepresent people. And we must not be a quarrelsome, scheming and mischievous people as we already tackled in the previous message. No fighting but instead we ought to be productive citizens, courteous, gentle, teachable, humble and real people.
We used to be quite the opposite before we were transformed by the Word of God and God's Spirit.
Why would we teach otherwise or why would we live like how we used to live in our past life? That person is dead, we ought not to resurrect that dead personality.
We may not understand why, but we trust that God knows. And He does.
We understand that respect begets respect. But as we read from the Book of Romans that those in authority were placed there in their position by God, or at least allowed to be placed in that position. And we are to respect their authority.
Romans 13:1-2
This is probably one of the hardest teachings that the Christian bible is preaching and certainly one of the hardest to understand. This is on the same level as when Scriptures is telling us to love and to do good to our enemies.
This is probably one of the hardest teachings that the Christian bible is preaching and certainly one of the hardest to understand. This is on the same level as when Scriptures is telling us to love and to do good to our enemies.
Image Credit: kcisradio.com
Law Abiding Citizens
Although certainly it is not hard to understand why as Christians, we should be seen as law abiding citizens. We are of course citizens of heaven for which we are to abide by the rules of heaven. So as we are also still on earth, citizens of whatever country we are planted on, we are to abide by its rules. And it is not by accident that we live where we do, this is all by God's design.
We, of course, may choose to be transplanted elsewhere or to another country (if we can and God willing). So if there is really no way for us (in good conscience) to respect the authority instituted in our land, then we can choose to be citizens of another nation.
Now wherever we are planted on, God expects us, His people to be obedient people, always ready to do good, and always ready to lend a helping hand. We are not to slander, insult, smear or misrepresent people. And we must not be a quarrelsome, scheming and mischievous people as we already tackled in the previous message. No fighting but instead we ought to be productive citizens, courteous, gentle, teachable, humble and real people.
We used to be quite the opposite before we were transformed by the Word of God and God's Spirit.
Why would we teach otherwise or why would we live like how we used to live in our past life? That person is dead, we ought not to resurrect that dead personality.
We may not understand why, but we trust that God knows. And He does.
We are not to call attention to ourselves but on how we conduct our lives, how we treat others, and in so doing lead others to know Christ. Teachers teach not just with words but by their actions, which speak more clearly of who they are and what's inside their heart.
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