Living in the City of Man, Part 2

If anybody had a good reason to write a letter, it wouldn't be to Titus, it would have been to the Roman Senate. And let me tell you, a thing or two could have been his attitude. He could have growled at every changing of the Roman guard.

He could have complained all over again every time he got a fresh set to guard him. He could have demanded better treatment as a freeborn Roman citizen, yet he's sitting in a cell in a place called the rat's nest and he writes, in everything, give thanks. Have you ever considered the fact that you shouldn't demand everything you're entitled to? You see, there's something far more important in life than preserving and demanding your rights. God calls you to live a distinctly Christian lifestyle. There may be times when doing that demands that you set aside your rights.

That's hard. It takes a great deal of humility. But living for Christ is what's important. Today we're going to explore how Christians can live godly lives in our modern culture. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. Christian's message today is called Living in the City of Man. And don't forget that when Paul was writing this letter, Neewer was on a rampage.

He's on the throne. Society is depraved as ever. There were no sexual norms at this time. Heterosexuality was considered prudish by the elite Roman society. The emperor was bisexual. Pedophilia, adultery, idolatry, abortion, prostitution, drug addiction were not only empire-wide, they were legal and openly acceptable. And this was the century in which Jesus Christ planted the living church and the church exploded into existence.

Why? Among other reasons, Christians were so remarkably different in this new thing called the church than their culture that they had respect for authority. These children of pirates could care less. You got around authority. Even when authority hated the very ground that Christians walked upon. In fact, Rome will eventually demand that Christians express their allegiance to the city of man by actually offering a pinch of incense and declaring Caesar as Lord and Christians will die as martyrs rather than attempt to overthrow the emperor. They simply refused to deny that Christ alone was Lord. So is it ever right to disobey the law?

Absolutely. Whenever the will of the law demands that you violate the word of God, you stand with the apostles and say, we will obey God rather than man. Rather than mount an insurrection or instigate a plot to overthrow Nero, Paul is actually delivering rather shocking news that they are to respect and pay taxes to Nero, the authority of the land, to keep the law of the land, unless it causes them to violate the word of God. And at that point, they are willing to lay down their lives and die. And the Christians did what? They did that and they sang on their way to their execution.

They'd served the city of man as bright lights and they knew now they were about to enter the city of God according to the will and providence and direction and purpose of God and the world then could only shake its head in wonder at those remarkable people. So before I leave this, let's practically apply it in a few ways. And when it gets too convicting, I'll move on. What's your attitude toward the authority in your life? I mean, we're all under the authority of somebody.

Everyone in this auditorium is. What's your attitude toward the authority of your parents? Man, I can't wait to get out of the house. What's your attitude toward the authority of your teachers, your supervisors, your pastor's elders, your town council, the IRS as you fill out those forms when you meet your hunting or fishing quota, when you write out your check for property taxes? What's your attitude when the police officer pulls you over?

I really don't want to go there, so we're going to keep moving on fairly quickly. But what do you do at a red light at 1 a.m. when nobody else is on the street? You're wondering, was he there? Did I see? No, I wasn't there.

I just pulled that out of the air. I watched one television show sometime ago where young children in kindergarten, one at a time, it's part of an experiment on how they respond to the authority, were put in a room with toys and a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And they were told they could play with the toys, but they couldn't eat any of the cookies until the teacher came back into the room, and then the teacher left. Then the tape began to roll and the agony was terrible. Some kids immediately walked over to the plate and just stared at the cookies, just stared and stared. Some started talking to themselves, don't eat the cookies, don't eat the cookies, don't eat the cookies, don't eat the cookies.

One kid went over to the corner and just banged his head against the wall. Well, the truth is the camera is rolling. People are probably watching, but even if they aren't, what does your spirit say? Well, what is your attitude? What is it communicating to you as it relates to authority?

Anything remarkable there? Okay, I'll knuckle under. You know, the Bible's clear.

I need to get with it and obey the law. Well, that's great, but I got to warn you, the Apostle Paul is just getting started. You'll notice that he not only has something to say about how we relate to rulers, he has five commands about how we relate to others.

Let me give them to you as we work through this quickly. The first thing he says effectively in relating to others is to go the extra mile. Notice the last part of verse one. Be ready for every good deed. There's eagerness in that phrase. Be ready. It's on your mark, get set, and you're ready. You're ready to go out of your way to serve your community, its leaders, its citizens, as you live in the city of man with the truth you represent. That's how we're salt and light.

Be ready for good deeds. That means that Christianity does not give us a free pass from society, and this attitude is going to be remarkably different from the status quo. The Jewish community on the island of Crete, in fact, throughout the Roman Empire urged separation from local culture, and they all just kind of huddled together. In the first century, Jews who lived outside of Israel formed tight-knit communities where nobody got in and nobody went out. Historians say they were slow and reluctant to submit to local laws and authorities. They felt they were above it. One author wrote that they treated the people around them with a thinly veiled disdain. Rather than live among the people and demonstrate the glory and character of God, they kept to themselves and did nothing at all in what they would have defined as secular society. So now they come to faith in Jesus Christ. We want to stay in our little community.

Let's just hang around each other. Let's not in any way be touched by secular society, which means you can't touch it. Maybe you're thinking, well you know Paul's telling the church to do that to each other. Well certainly that's a biblical principle. Galatians 6 says, you know, do good to all people, especially those of the household of God. Absolutely should be emphasized above everything here, but Paul isn't just talking about us. In fact, you'll notice he ends his statement here with the clarification that we're to do these things to all men, not just believers. So what does my heart communicate about this idea of going the extra mile? What do my hands communicate, my feet, my spirit? Is it, I'm gonna let somebody else do that or I'm ready.

I'm on ready. See at any moment on this occupied island, a Christian could feel the touch of the flat of a Roman spear on his shoulder and he knew he was immediately by law compelled to carry that soldier's gear for one mile. Everybody despised the practice, the people of Crete, the Jewish community especially, no doubt believers. Why would you want to interrupt your schedule and walk a mile out of the way? A Roman mile was considered a thousand steps and it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to imagine that that person then picks up that gear and that backpack and they begin, he begins to walk and he counts one, two, three, four, and just the attitude and the way he's counting, five, six, nine hundred and ninety seven, nine hundred and ninety eight, nine hundred and ninety nine, one thousand, plop, there's your gear, I'm out of here. And Jesus Christ prepares the way for the church and the preaching of these distinctives all the way back in Matthew chapter five and he says, whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Probably get the phrase going the extra mile. Can you imagine the surprise of a Roman soldier if you were to say, hey listen, I know I've counted out a thousand steps but I'm willing because of my obedience to Jesus Christ, my Savior, to carry your gear one more mile.

You want to demonstrate remarkable Christianity in the church and in your community, be ready to go the extra mile. Secondly, avoid the grapevine, avoid the grapevine. Paul writes further in verse two, malign no one, as that verse opens, malign no one. The verb is from the Greek word blasphemo, which gives us our word blasphemy, to blaspheme, only in this context it's referring to slandering another person, slander no one. And note that Paul does not add the loophole, slander or malign no one if the information isn't true.

If it's true, let it rip. No, malign no one. And his directive for the believer couldn't be any clearer. We can't abuse or insult with our lips. We can't run down politicians. We can't run down fellow believers.

We can't run down colleagues at work or students on the campus or family members and ever hope to elevate the reputation of the gospel. In fact, when we engage in that we're just like them, we're not remarkable, we're status quo. I mean, that's the kind of activity the city of man has mastered. One historian said of Crete and the first century culture that verbal slander was practiced as a fine art. I mean, they had it down in that dog eat dog world.

I mean, they knew how to swing that sword and cut a path to the top. The verb is here subordinate to the opening imperative, which implies then that Paul is saying, Titus, you're going to have to remind them, remind them, remind them again, that remarkable Christianity does not run people through the mud. So what does that mean? Well, take words out of your vocabulary that would be insulting, demeaning.

Words like stupid, jerk, fool. I'll never forget talking to a man after a service who since left the church years ago, moved away. Nobody's here, so don't look around. His family had evidently been waiting outside and didn't know where he was. He was in here talking to me. The auditorium had just about emptied out when his middle school aged son spotted us and ran up to his dad and said, we've been looking all over for you, you idiot.

I know. I turned pink, just, you know, thoughts of capital punishment were becoming clear to my mind. I just stood there silently waiting and I watched with amazement as this man never corrected his son.

It occurred to me later that more than likely this was the language of the father in the home and it never registered. We happen to be living in a demeaning, crass, vulgar, rude society, which is great news because we can demonstrate a remarkable distinction in the way we talk. You go the extra mile, avoid the gutter of the grapevine. Next, Paul writes in verse 2, be peaceable.

It's a word that literally means a no brawler. You're not looking to drop your gloves, you know, just give me an opportunity. I'll put it in another way for your outline's sake. If you're taking this, this is Paul's third command in regard to relationships with others and you can say this way, remarkable Christianity does not swing back.

Even if you have what many might consider a good reason to take a shot, you don't do it. Let me help us all to clarify what this would mean by way of application when you simply think of the apostle Paul's own experience. He's writing this letter to Titus and he's writing this, malign no one, don't take a shot. He said those things and he has been bound up in the legal culture of his Roman world. Roman governors through pride and incompetence have kept him bound in prison for years. Roman authorities illegally bound him.

They've beaten them with rods. They've delayed hearing charges against him. And then when the charges were presented, even though he was not found guilty, they kept him under house arrest for several more years.

In fact, up until the point where he is eventually executed. If anybody had a good reason to write a letter, it wouldn't be to Titus, it would have been to the Roman Senate. And let me tell you a thing or two could have been his attitude. I mean, he could have growled at every changing of the Roman guard.

He could have complained all over again every time he got a fresh set to guard him. He could have demanded better treatment as a freeborn Roman citizen, yet he's sitting in a cell in a place called the rat's nest and he writes, in everything give thanks. We know he witnessed to these soldiers because in letters he'll remark by name to those within the military and giving greetings to them who are now believers.

And they must have left their watch scratching their heads and saying to each other, that guy, that guy, man, is he remarkable or what? I recommend to my seminary students, I teach a course a year usually. The small biography of Robert Chapman, I've mentioned him before, pastor, he was the pastor of a small church in 19th century England. He was single his entire life, pastored a very small church, his entire ministry, yet made a significant contribution to his community and those who knew him. Charles Spurgeon, in fact, called him the saintliest man in England.

That's saying something, huh? But not everybody liked Robert Chapman. He had his enemies.

A grocer in the community hated him. In fact, he would be so infuriated if Chapman ever came near his store with any kind of open air witnessing or preaching and on more than one occasion he walked past Robert Chapman while he was preaching and spit in his face. He would verbally attack Chapman as he came around. Chapman never retaliated.

He never struck back. And on one occasion, some of Chapman's wealthy relatives came to visit him. Since Robert was single, they convinced him, look, let us buy the groceries and let us cook for you for this week or two that we're with you.

And Chapman agreed. They asked him where he would recommend they go to purchase their groceries. And he insisted they go to the grocery of this man who had insulted him for so many years. Now, they didn't know anything about the drama, but Chapman insisted that they travel to the other side of town to do their shopping in his store. And so off they went. They ended up purchasing a lot more food than they could carry. And so they asked that it all be delivered to the home of R.C.

Chapman. The stunned grocer asked them to repeat that address. And they did. And then he said, you must have come to my store by accident. They said, no, Mr. Chapman insisted that we come and buy this from you. When the grocer arrived with the delivery and when Chapman answered the door, that old grocer broke down into tears and Chapman ended up leading him to faith in his Lord that very afternoon.

That didn't always happen that way, but sometimes it does. As you set the groundwork of a remarkable Christianity, because the world knows you're not like them with good reason, you refuse to swing back. Fourthly, he tells us to stay the course. He writes in verse two, to malign no one to be peaceable.

Now notice, to be gentle. And that word doesn't quite grasp the depth of character bound up in its construction. It's an adjective that's found only five times in the New Testament. It refers to someone who is patiently steadfast.

That's why I'm saying that's why I'm saying Paul is commanding us to stay the course. Let me define it to you by reading a definition of a Greek scholar. He said, it means this. It refers to someone who is able to submit to injustice, disgrace, and maltreatment without hatred or malice, trusting God in spite of it all. That's why Paul is saying in our vernacular, remarkable Christianity stays the course and you can add the word sweetly.

There's the challenge. That's easy for Paul to say he's an apostle. He got a tour of heaven.

We expect him to write this kind of stuff. No, Paul uses again the same word from the dark cold interior of the rat's nest to prison designed for people who never got out. And he said, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. Philippians 4-5. The apostle Peter used the word as well when he wrote, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have so that you can let them have it. Oh, that's not what it says. Always have an answer so you can stick it to them. I like that translation, but that's not what it says.

Let me try one more time. Always be prepared to give an answer, but, 1 Peter 2-12, do this with gentleness and respect. So to make it practical to us, how do you respond when you're questioned?

How do you respond when your faith is ridiculed or challenged? How do you react to debate? One journalist writes about our culture today, and he writes, reasoned discourse is imperiled.

It is giving way now to in-your-face soundbites. Playing hardball is the dominant metaphor for American dialogue. Our interchanges are confrontational, divisive, dismissive.

Balance and fairness are casualties on evening shows, as two, three, sometimes four voices contend simultaneously for dominance. Volume and stubbornness are the new civic virtues, which is great news because now our spirit can be all the more remarkable as we represent the city of God while living in the city of man. There's one more command from Paul to Titus and to us. I'll simply put it this way.

Don't play favorites. He concludes verse two by writing, showing every consideration to all men. Do you notice that? Let me give you the literal translation of that Greek word translated all in your text.

Ready? It means all. In fact, you could expand it to write in your margin, every kind of man. You could translate it all kinds of people.

It isn't just your favorites. Regardless of race, religion, political leanings, social status, education, salary, neighborhood, ethnicity, you just keep adding all kinds of people. Show every consideration to them. Be eager.

Be ready to meet it. How remarkable is that? Another illustration from my reading of biography, George Whitfield, a spiritual leader in the 1800s who was an itinerary preacher. He was not allowed to preach in most churches. He was a nonconformist, so he preached outdoors to thousands of people. Remarkable biography. He found out about a widow with a large family whose landlord had recently taken all her furniture away because she couldn't pay rent.

He immediately rode a long distance out to her village with a friend. They arrived at her home and much to her surprise and gratitude, he gave her five pounds. That's $5 in American money, depending on how sympathetic the exchange rate is. It was enough money back then to pay her rent and get her furniture back. In today's economy, Whitfield's gift was probably more along the lines of $500 to us. As they rode home later that afternoon, Whitfield's friend kind of chided him, you know, you really didn't have the kind of money to give away.

And Whitfield said, when God brings a need before us, it is that we may relieve it, no matter who, no matter what. The two men are riding their horses and they're suddenly startled when a robber rides his horse up and confronts them, demanding their money. Whitfield didn't have any, but the other guy did. And so the robber got all the friend's money. After the thief rode away, Whitfield turned the tables on his friend and reminded him how much better it was for the poor widow to have his money than the thief. They continued on their journey, but suddenly the robber returned and demanded Whitfield's heavy winter coat. It was wintertime. Whitfield actually graciously agreed without a fuss, took off his coat, gave it to the thief, but then asked the bandit if he could at least have his old tattered coat in exchange because it was a cold day. They exchanged coats, the robber rode away, and they continued on their ride in silence. After some time, if you can believe it, they spotted the robber galloping towards them as fast as he could, again, and fearing now this time for their lives, the biographer writes, they spurred on their horses and fortunately arrived at some cottages before the robber reached them. The thief had to turn away and Dallimore recorded, he was no doubt mortified because of what had transpired for when Whitfield took off the man tattered coat by the fire, he found in one of the pockets his five pounds and in another nearly 100 more.

Which means in today's economy, Whitfield gave that widow $500 and got $50,000 back. I'm ready to be remarkable. Lord, who can I give my coat to? Come see me after the service, would you?

Listen, we might say, hey, sign me up. Whitfield didn't know how it would turn out, who would give money to a stranger in need, who would graciously offer a thief without a fight his coat. These are the attributes of remarkable Christianity as he begins, go the extra mile, avoid the grapevine, refuse to swing back, stay the course, and don't play favorites along the way. The lesson you just heard from the teaching ministry of Stephen Davey is called living in the city of man. It comes from Stephen's series entitled remarkable Christianity. You can learn more about our ministry, Wisdom International. If you visit our website, you'll find us at wisdomonline.org. Once you go there, you'll be able to access the archive of Stephen's 35 years of Bible teaching. Each of those full-length sermons is available for you to listen to, or if you prefer reading, you can download the manuscript. So if you ever miss one of these messages on the radio, you can go to our website to keep caught up with our daily Bible teaching ministry. The archive of Stephen's teaching is available on that site free of charge and you can access it anytime at wisdomonline.org. This current series, Remarkable Christianity, comes from Titus chapter 3. Stephen has a book in which he teaches through the entire book of Titus. It's available during this series at a deep discount. Information is on the website, or you can call us today at 866-48-BIBLE. Give us a call and then join us back here next time. We'll continue through this series here on Wisdom for the Hearts.