The Peaceable Christian #2

Look back before you were Christian. Who was it that had an impact on your life for the Gospel? Was it an angry person?

Was it someone who was severe on you with their arms across their chest? Most of us were wooed to Christ through the kindness of a Christian friend and showed this kindness to us. We welcome you again to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hello, I'm Bill Wright, and today Don continues our series in the book of Titus titled God's Glorious Plan of Grace. We'll be hearing part two of a message titled The Peaceable Christian. Last time Don showed us the things we need to avoid, including destructive lips and a combative spirit.

Our culture abounds with critical words and sometimes downright nastiness. Christians are called to be different. We also need to advance and stand for certain qualities, and Don will cover those on today's broadcast. So have your Bible open to Titus chapter 3 as we join our teacher now in the Truth Pulpit. You see, scripture calls us to something different, and Paul points to this in terms of, we've looked at what he says to avoid. Now what do we advance? What do we pursue? What do we put on?

Go back to Titus chapter 2 here. It's one thing to say, don't malign people, don't insult them with your words, don't fight. But what is it that we are to advance?

What are we to put on? Well, notice that Paul calls us to a kind and peaceable spirit. And this is not the kind of teaching that people are going to really rally around in big numbers. If you follow anything on the internet, people who blog, you know that the quickest way to get an audience is to be controversial and to attack someone. That's just the spirit of our age.

It's just the way that it works. Well, Paul calls us to something completely different. Instead of being self-appointed boxers against everything that's around us, he says, look at what he says there in verse 2. The line, no one be peaceable.

Here we go. Gentle. Gentle.

Showing every consideration for all men. To be gentle here has the idea of to be fair and reasonable. It speaks to a gracious tolerance with a world that does not share our spiritual commitments. Look, we don't approve of sin, but we understand that we cannot compel people to stop sinning. Legislation has never worked to try to make people stop sinning.

Prohibition failed. The effort to outlaw sin is a denial of the gospel. Because the gospel tells us that men in sin cannot stop sinning unless God intervenes. Unless God is gracious and merciful to them. So to establish laws in the name of establishing righteousness, you have to be aware you're going to deny the gospel with that pursuit. What changes sinners is the gospel, not government legislation that's supported by the evangelical right. And so, instead of trying to compel people to stop sinning, we extend kindness to them instead of carrying a severe spirit toward them. You know, you come across people whose lives are a moral wreck. Start with kindness and see where that goes. Gentle, peaceable, gracious interaction.

Because you can know, no matter what you see on the outside, you can know that what scripture says is true. The way of the transgressor is hard. It's difficult to live a sinful life. The consequences are painful over time. And so because we know that, because some of us have tasted that personally from our own sad experience, say, oh, that is so bad.

You know what? I just want to be merciful. I just want to show some kindness, knowing the spiritual consequences of the way that you live. I just want to be kind to those in that slavery and bondage.

Not a severe spirit. Beloved, if you have any question about whether this is right or not, let me ask you to look back on your own testimony. Look back on those of you that became Christians a little bit later in life.

Look back before you were Christian. Who was it that had an impact on your life for the Gospel? Was it an angry person? Was it someone who was severe on you with their arms across their chest? Or was it someone that showed kindness to you at a business lunch?

Was it someone that showed kindness to you when you were arrogantly dismissive of what they said, but there was something disarming about the gentleness that they showed to you as a person? And it stopped you short. And you said, wow, wow, that's different. That's different.

I dare to say that most of us were wooed to Christ through the kindness of a pastor, the kindness of a preacher, a Christian friend who overlooked the sinfulness of our ways and showed this kind of kindness to us. It's true in my life. Those were the people that brought me up short in my anger and arrogance.

And I said, wow, I can't deal with that. That's something different. It convicts their conscience.

And that's what we care about. Not to be the one who stands in spiritual judgment of them. Look over at Matthew chapter 7. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 verse 3, Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye, you hypocrite.

First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Look over at Galatians chapter 6 along these same lines. I realize that some of these passages are talking about life in the church, but they manifest a greater spiritual principle of examining ourselves first and letting the recognition of our own sin and rebellion soften our hearts toward those who are still in their own sin and rebellion. Galatians 6 verse 1, Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted.

Look to yourself, examine your heart, realize that you're subject to sin and temptation too, and let that change, soften, diminish the severity with which you would otherwise deal with people, and let the fact that a gracious God has forgiven the infinite debt of guilt that you had have such a powerful, motivating influence in your own heart that you say, of course I'm going to be gentle to you, you're just like I used to be, and God was gracious to me, therefore all I can do is be gracious to you too. Go back to Titus chapter 3, we'll just touch there for a moment, before we bounce off into a couple of other passages I want you to see. Titus chapter 3 verse 2, he says, showing every consideration for all men, for all men, every consideration. This is restraining our natural impulse toward retaliation in the face of insults.

We want to fight back, we want to bite back if we get bitten. Paul says, no, no, show every consideration for all men. Obviously, that's going to include men who are unkind to us, whose lives of which we don't approve in one level. Paul says, show them kindness, show them peaceableness, show them consideration, make that the defining mark of your Christian character. Look, we are going to have to take our cues, as we look to the future down the road a few years in our country and in our world, we're going to have to take our cues from Scripture, because there's not going to be anything to reinforce this kind of attitude in our lives otherwise.

It's going to get worse, it's going to get more hostile toward us. How do you prepare young people, in their teens and in their twenties, who are entering into a world that is going to be more openly hostile to Christianity than anything that we've ever known in our lifetime experience? How do you prepare them for that? Do you prepare them and teach them political action? Do you tell them that you've got to fight every inch of the way? Is this how we fight for Christ? Is that how we advance the purposes of the kingdom of God? Scripture is telling us right here, your character going forward, your character going forward, the Bible says, as you live in the midst of a hostile world, malign no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. You start with your understanding of who God wants you to be, and you let him sort out the consequences of how his providence unfolds in world history. Our starting point is the kind of people that we are, that's the one thing that we have control over. We can't control anything else, but we can respond in righteous submission to what God says, this is what I want you to be like.

You know, the more I think about it, the more this actually takes a big burden off my mind. I don't have to fight every bad piece of legislation that comes up. I don't have to fight every homosexual that comes down the road. I don't have to fight against it all.

I don't have to fight because the Lord has called me to peace. We don't compromise righteousness as we teach the Scriptures. We'll teach and we'll confront sin as we go through Scripture verse by verse. But on a personal level, what we're talking about here, on a personal level, in our demeanor, in our interactions one by one with people, here you go, be peaceable, be gentle, and remember that.

I don't know the answer to this question, but I'm very confident about it. To help fuel and reinforce your convictions along those lines, remember that it was a kind person sharing the Gospel in one way or another that had the impact on your life. You didn't pay attention to the angry ones. It wasn't the angry preachers, was it, buddy? It wasn't the angry preachers that affected your life for Christ, was it? It's not the angry men that turn us toward godliness. Okay, okay, it wasn't an angry person that really impacted me for the Gospel. It's not angry preachers that motivate us to be like Christ who said he was gentle and humble in heart.

Well, let's look at that and learn from it then. Let's look at Scripture and say, okay, I see the principle. Now, you know, I look back at life and I observe life and I say, ah, this is the way life in the kingdom of God works.

This is where the power and influence is. I've got a few extra minutes. This has never happened. Go back to the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter 5. One day we'll go through the Sermon on the Mount, verse by verse, and that's going to be a wonderful time for my life.

I can't wait to do that. But look at Matthew chapter 5. Jesus made this a defining principle. In Matthew 5, he is showing the marks of a truly repentant person. He is explaining and expositing the character of those who truly belong to the kingdom of God, those who have truly been repented, who have truly been born again.

What do they look like? What kind of people are they? Matthew 5, verse 3, blessed are the poor in spirit. Verse 4, blessed are those who mourn, mourning over sin. Verse 5, blessed are the gentle. Verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Verse 7, blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. This is not the picture of a militant, angry Christian, is it?

It's not. And so let's define what Christian life should look like, not by the problems that we see in society around us. Let's go to God's word and let it define us and then say, yeah, Lord, that's what I want to be like. This is throughout the New Testament.

Blessed are the gentle. Look at Philippians, Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Go over to the book of James. James chapter 3. At some point, as a preacher, you just become embarrassed by the multitude of texts that reinforce the point of one particular verse. James chapter 3, verse 13. Who among you is wise and understanding?

Let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. If you're jealous, selfishly ambitious, arrogant, James says, verse 15, this wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

Look at this. Look at this and try to deny that this doesn't rebuke the spirit of some things that are in Christendom today. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder in every evil thing. Verse 17, but the wisdom from above is first purer, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. We can argue about how this applies in any particular situation that we may face. What you can't argue with, without just raising yourself up in opposition to the whole tenor of Scripture, is that Christians are to be peaceable, gentle, reasonable people.

This is what we're to be like. Collectively, that should be the testimony of truth community going forward. Individually, it's what we should be known as as believers. They may hate our Christ and they may persecute us because they can't get to us, but there should be such an evident kindness that marks our response to all of that. That objective people, more importantly, our all-seeing, all-knowing Lord says, trying to be like my Son, trying to be like my Christ, the Son that I sent into the world, trying to be like him who was silent like a sheep before slaughter. This takes a lot of pressure off of life when we realize this.

I want to say this. When it comes to personal interactions on a day-to-day basis, we're not talking about doctrine at this point. We're talking about what our demeanor and character is like as Christians. You're in James, right? Look up at James chapter 3.

I just remembered this. Verse 8. He says, No one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. We ought not be like that. When it just comes to our personal demeanor, we can show, and we should show kindness to an atheist as much as we are willing to show kindness to a celebrity pastor. We should be happy to open the door for an atheist woman to walk through just as a mild expression of gentleness, rather than quickly shutting it in front of her and hoping that she walks in and conks her head. We show patience to those who are outside the church as well as those who are inside it. We don't justify a harsh demeanor because someone opposes what we stand for.

I say it again. If Christ could pray for those who crucified Him and say, Father, forgive them, we who are His disciples can do no less. Can we? Can we? And so, Christian people are defined by humble kindness.

That's Paul's point here in Titus 3.2. This impacts us. This impacts how we treat political opponents. It affects how we treat people of different races.

It affects how we treat fast food workers. We're so humbled by the grace that we have received that we are eager to share that around us. Look, this isn't natural.

I get that. But we can live this way as we remember who we once were and the mercy that Christ showed to us. Go back to Titus and we'll wrap this up. Ultimately, beloved, everything that we've said today is simply the outworking of Christian theology, good biblical Christian theology, and remembering who you were, who I was, and what was done for us. Let's read it in its full context here. I want you to see where and how Paul grounds this call to gentle Christian character, what he grounds it in. Chapter 3, verse 2.

Malign no one. Be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. Verse 3, 4.

Here's his explanation. Paul, why should I be that way? God, that isn't really the disposition of my heart right now. I get kind of angry at all this stuff.

Why? Remember who you were. Verse 3. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

Regardless of the degree in which you manifested that before you were a Christian, this is what was true of you. Every one of us. This is what we were like. We were foolish. We were disobedient. We were deceived. We didn't know the truth, and we weren't even looking for it. We were enslaved to lusts and pleasures.

Don't try to deny it. We spent our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. Someone crossed our paths, we reacted against it.

This is what we were like. Verse 4. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.

We find ourselves as Christians in this sphere of mercy and grace and kindness. Not because we worked our way into it. No.

No. We were slaves to our anger and our lust. And God overlooked it all and showed kindness to us of eternal, infinite value when He brought us, by the power of His Spirit, to the cross of Jesus Christ. In a spectacular, eternal act of undeserved mercy and grace, God overlooked all of your hateful malice toward Him and toward others and said, I will claim you as my own. You come to Christ now.

You belong to me. If you're a Christian, that's what's true. Now, let's just expand that out. If that's true of what we were, then how can we be, in response, be angry and hateful to those who are just like what we used to be? Beloved, it all boils down to this. Having received grace, we extend it. Having benefited from mercy when we didn't deserve it, we show it to people who have no claim on it in our own lives. And we're glad to do it in the name of our Christ. And as we do it, we remind ourselves one more time that to be a Christian is to live the most noble life there is. We hope you'll take today's biblical message from Pastor Don Green to heart.

Be peaceable and gentle, showing every consideration for all people. That's the sign of a mature believer who puts scripture first. An important reminder here on The Truth Pulpit.

Well, Don, being gentle and considerate can be difficult in a culture that's so hostile to us. Tell our listeners how they can approach this scriptural admonition. Well, my friend, when you have a deep appreciation for what Christ has done in saving you, it completely transforms the way that you deal with men and women in your life. Christ saved us even though we were disobedient and hateful and alienated from him. And yet he showed grace and mercy to us. Well, now, with that transformed spirit, that transformed heart, we realize that the thing that we must do is to show a similar like mercy and grace to others around us. To be vertically reconciled to God through Christ has a horizontal impact.

We view men with mercy because God has had mercy on us. Thanks, Don. And, friend, we invite you to visit thetruthpulpit.com, where you can hear podcasts of our radio programs again at your convenience, and you can also learn more about this ministry. Once again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. Well, thanks for joining us today. We'll see you next time for more of our series, Titus, God's Glorious Plan of Grace, with Don Green.