Saturday 30th August – Titus 3:1-15

Paul has been showing Titus what it means to be taught by grace. Here, he brings it all together in his closing words, which we’ll be looking at together on Sunday afternoon.

Read Titus 3:1-15, and think about the following questions.

How do verses 3-8 speak of God’s grace? Go through the verses phrase by phrase, and think about how each part relates to the story of your conversion.

How do verses 1-2 and 9-15 teach about the outworking of that grace? List the commands (e.g. “be subject to rulers and authorities”) – how does each demonstrate an attitude of grace?

Now read back through the whole of Titus. What’s the main idea of the book? Any questions you’d like to ask at the question time on Sunday (note: you can text them now to 60777, beginning your text with the code P7WYC)?

Pray: for James Maurice as he prepares to preach, and ask that your life would be both informed and transformed by the way in which God has rescued you.

Friday 29th August – Titus 2:15

Titus is to teach the Cretan’s to do good, motivated by God’s grace (v11) and future glory (v13). We are often tempted to go back to legalism, but only grace and glory transform people.

Read Titus 2:11-15

What is Titus told to do with these wonderful truths?

How can we make sure when we speak to both Christians and non-Christians today, they hear grace, not works?

Think through what it might look like (sound like?!?) to speak about grace and glory today.

Pray: for the church in this country, that it might preach the gospel of grace and glory, rather than a gospel of works which is no gospel at all. Pray for Jeremy and the staff team to keep teaching the gospel faithfully, and trusting that the God of grace and glory will keep changing us to be more like the Lord Jesus.

Extra: Praise God for all the truths about him contained in Titus 2:11-15.

Thursday 28th August – Titus 2:14

Paul cannot think about the appearing of the future glory of Jesus without thinking back to the cross, where Jesus gave his life.

Read Titus 2:11-14

What is it that Jesus achieved at the cross?

What does it mean to be redeemed? Why is it so significant?

Jesus came not only to redeem us but also to make us his people, his treasured possession.

What should be the consequence of that?

How does God’s grace and glory change the way we see ourselves?

Pray: that “what we are leads to what we do” and we would remember today that we are more loved by God than we could possibly imagine (despite our sin). Ask God to use his grace and glory to motivate us to do good today.

Wednesday 27th August – Titus 2:13

Paul has been telling Titus to teach the Cretans to do good. He wants them to look back at the grace of God which has appeared but today he wants them also to look forward…

What do you look forward to most?

Read Titus 2:11-13

v13 in the ESV says ‘the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’

What does Paul say followers of Jesus are waiting for?

How often do we lift our eyes from our own problems to think about the future and the glorious reality of heaven?

How might your day change if you thought about heaven more?

Spend the rest of the time meditating on Revelation 21.

Pray: that we might remember more often the reality of where we are heading. Praise the God of grace and glory for our certain future.

Tuesday 26th August – Titus 2:12

Titus has been told to teach the Cretan’s to be good ‘for the grace of God has appeared’. And it’s the grace of God which Paul says teaches us.

How would you answer a friend who says: “if you’ve been saved by grace, surely it doesn’t matter how you live”?

Read Titus 2:11-12

According to Titus 2:12 what does God’s grace teach us? 

What might it mean to say ‘no’ to ungodliness today?

What are your worldly passions? (Hint: What do you spend most time daydreaming about?)

What might help us live self-controlled, upright and godly lives? (Hint: look back at 2:11)

Pray: asking for God’s help in learning from grace and letting grace affect our daily life.

Monday 25th August – Titus 2:11

Paul has been telling Titus to tell the Cretan’s to live a good life, and he has described what that good life looks like in chapter 2 verses 1-10, but he now turns to the source of this good life. He doesn’t teach people to go back to law but instead…

Titus 2:11 ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men’

What motivations do people have for living God’s way?

What might it look like to be motivated by law/legalism?

But the law can never change us. Look again at Titus 2:11.

What has appeared, and what is significant about that?

What event in history do you think Paul is referring to?

Why is grace so important?

Think back to times in your life when God’s grace has been most evident to you?

How can we remind ourselves of God’s grace every day?

Pray: giving thanks for the grace of God which brings salvation and which has appeared to sinners like us. Pray that we might remember the grace of God and it might spur us on to good deeds today.

Sunday 24th August – Titus 2:11-15

These next few verses of Titus are key to the message of the book. They explain the gospel of grace which teaches us and changes us, enabling and instructing us to live transformed lives. We’ll be looking at this passage later on today, but it would be great to get ahead in your thinking, and think through some of the issues ahead of time.

Read Titus 2:11-15 and think about some of the following questions.

How does the grace of God teach people to be more godly, do you think? Thinking back over your own life, how has it changed the way that you have lived?

In verse 14, how does Paul describe the cross? It is the way that you normally describe the cross? Anything surprising that he leaves in / leaves out? Why do he do that, do you think?

From verse 13, how does a certain future event affect lives in the present? How often do you think about the return of Jesus Christ? How does it affect you when you do?

What, then, do you think is Paul’s main purpose in writing these verses?

Pray: for receptive hearts at Trinity this afternoon, and for clarity and gospel-heartedness for Mark Aldham as he preaches

Saturday 23rd August – Titus 2: 9-10

It’s significant that as Paul thinks of different groups within the church in Crete, he includes slaves too – those who have the least opportunity to determine the shape of their own lives. Paul doesn’t directly challenge slavery, although as many have noted, his teaching in the New Testament laid down principles which would ultimately lead to slavery’s abolition (see, for instance, 1 Cor 7:21-22). In the meantime, though, Paul teaches what distinctive gospel living looks like, even for someone in a position of apparent powerlessness.

Read Titus 2:9-10 and think about the following questions

Some people nowadays, like slaves, are in a very disadvantaged position at work, or have very little freedom. Who would you say those people are?

Does it surprise you that slaves are told to submit to their masters? How does Romans 13:1-7 similarly remind all of us that submission to authority is part of Christian witness?

Do you “try to please” your bosses or resent them? How might you “talk back to them”, even if you don’t do it out loud?

In what ways might you subtly steal things from work (e.g. extending your chargeable hours beyond what you’ve worked, exaggerating expenses, or spending too much time on Facebook while you’re in the office)?

Why does any of this matter? Why is the attractiveness of the gospel more important than our own personal comfort?

Think back over recent conversations or difficulties at work. How did your behaviour bring credit or discredit to the teaching about God our saviour? 

Pray: repenting for some of your wrong motives at work, and asking that your behaviour would be distinctive, not for your own sake, but in order to adorn the gospel to others.

Friday 22nd August – Titus 2:6-8

What you believe changes what you do. That’s true for everyone, but especially for someone who’s begun to believe the life-changing news of Jesus’ redemption. Be honest: how distinctive do you think your life actually is? Now that you’ve spent a few days looking at Titus 2, has anything changed?

Read Titus 2:6-8 and think about the following questions

Peter the Great once said, “I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.” Why do you think self-control is the key to godliness for young men (verse 6)?

The word used for ‘self-control’ is close to the word for ‘thinking’. Why must self-control govern a young man’s mind as well as his actions?

Titus, though, is also to act as an example to young men (verses 7-8). Why is it so important that what he teaches and what he does match up? Why is it appropriate for a Christian leader to be serious… and how is that different from being boring?

What people make of Christians is significant, according to verse 8. What kinds of things will our friends (and enemies!) say when they see us living with integrity?

Pray: that young men at Trinity would learn self-control, that the leadership team at Trinity would set an example of integrity and godliness, and that even our enemies would realise that their criticisms of the church are unfounded.

P.S. Verses 9-10 to follow tomorrow.

 

Thursday 21st August – Titus 2:4-5

Titus, Paul’s man in Crete, is being reminded to teach distinctive living in the churches there. That is not only because Crete is an immoral and dishonest place (see Titus 1:12-13), but because unlike any other religion, the good news of Christianity brings deep and lasting change. In fact, there is a necessary connection between sound doctrine and a distinctive lifestyle, as Timothy is to go on and explain to younger women in the church.

Read Titus 2:4-5 and think about the following questions

What reasons do you think married women would give for loving their husbands? What do you think people mean when they say they are no longer ‘in love’?

In fact, Titus says that you can be trained to love (Titus 2:4). Who (verse 3) is best placed to able to do this training?

Younger women, in common with many other groups here in Titus 2, are called to be self-controlled (verse 5). What areas of self-control might particularly apply in our culture?

When younger women are called on to be ‘busy at home’, the Bible is referring to industry as well as home-making. From verses 4-5, list the factors which might determine whether a mum might go back to work or not.

In 1 Corinthians 15:28, who submits to whom? In that case, how can verse 5 not mean that wives have a lower status that their husbands?

What is the ultimate purpose of distinctive godliness among younger women in the church (verse 5)? Why is this a high calling?

Pray: giving thanks for younger women at Trinity (single and married), and pray that their godly lives would be used by God to commend his words in the Bible. Pray that they would be seeking good advice from older women all the time about living godly and distinctive lives as Christians in a culture which has very fixed views on femininity.