Tag: church leaders

An Important Letter

Titus 1-3

Devotion by John Tullis (OH)

Everyone likes to get a letter in the mail!  Especially around Christmas time.  Getting a letter from a friend or loved one might seem old fashioned, but letters have a way of being more personal and intimate.  Receiving a letter from a mentor or person you respect is especially important when the letter includes an important message. 

The Book of Titus is a letter written by Paul to his “true son in the common faith” Titus.  Titus was an early Christian leader and a close friend of the apostle Paul.  He is best known as being the leader of the churches in Crete and Corinth.  He was sent by Paul to these churches to help them solve problems.   In this letter, he asks Titus to ask the people in the churches to stop arguing with each other over silly things and to focus on doing good things in the name of Jesus.

To help the church at Crete, Paul sent recommendations on how to pick good leaders to look after the church (Titus 1:5-9).  Having leaders who are qualified is important in leading a church.  Like shepherds of a flock of sheep, the “elders” of the church look after us and protect us from making mistakes that can harm us.  Their job is to help us do good works for God.

Paul also reminds us that we should always do good because we are Christians. Paul writes that the grace of God “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions”.  As Christians we should always seek to serve other people and be good to them.  Sometimes it is hard to live obediently for God.  Paul asks us to be “self-controlled” and live upright and godly lives.  It’s not easy, but God wants to help us and to “purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good”. (Titus 2:11-15).

It is important to always remember that God has shown His mercy to us not only because He wants us to be good, but so that He could adopt us into His family.  Paul hopes that each of us “might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).  Living a godly life is how we declare our thankfulness for His great mercy.  As we accept God’s gift of grace, it makes us want to do good things for the Kingdom of God.

Questions for Discussion:

  1. In Titus 2:2, what does it mean to be “self-controlled”?
  2. What does Paul mean when he says to “avoid foolish controversies” in Titus 3:9?
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Who Deserves Our Faith & Following

1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 1 18 (1)

Hey guys this is Chris and I’m excited to go through 1 Corinthians 1-7 with you this week.  I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do.

 

In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Paul chastises the people in the Church at Corinth for being divided based on the person they were baptized by or whose teachings they followed.  I think that this is a very good message for us today. Many Christians are drawn to a well spoken pastor, or an impassioned speaker, and these are good people to follow, but too often people place too much of their faith in that person.  I have seen it many times, these types of leaders will move away from their church or they will have a scandal, and the faith of the people will be shaken and many will stop going to that church. Hebrews 4:14 says “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”  We need to follow Jesus as the head of the Church because he will not fail us, and he is the only one who deserves our faith. Also, in this age of social justice people can get caught up in a certain movement or behind a certain leader and let those ideas influence them, and we need to remember that Christ’s teachings come first. Those other movements may be good things, but we need to check what they are saying against what Christ teaches.

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 tells us that salvation is not attained through wisdom or knowledge that you can gain if you study long enough.  That was the teaching of the Greeks such as Plato and Aristotle, that seeking wisdom was the highest goal. Salvation comes through faith.  In the Church of God we can be very focused on the Word of God and the truth, which is a good thing, but we need to make sure that we do not take pride in our knowledge and somehow think that we are any better than other Christians. We are saved by our faith, not our knowledge or wisdom.  Knowledge and wisdom will come as we seek God and grow, but we should not have pride in our knowledge, only in Christ and his works.

 

Have a blessed day.

Chris Mattison