An Open Door of Faith from the Lord

Journey's End and a New Creation

(Acts 14:24-28, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 29, 2012)

[24] Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. [25] And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, [26] and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled.

When Jesus died and rose again, one major period of history came to an end, and a new one began. Everything that has taken place from that moment until today and beyond is a part of a new age of resurrection. The church, led by Christ and filled with His Spirit, has the privilege of announcing the coming of this wonderful era of life to the world.

In chapters 13 and 14 of Acts we are blessed to have an account of a major new missionary thrust that took place in a time and place that was in many ways very different than our own. Paul and Barnabas were sent out by God with the blessing of a church in Antioch of Syria, in an area today that is part of the southeastern tip of Turkey. They went from there to Cyprus where they traveled throughout the island from Salamis in the east to Paphos in the west. It was there that they faced opposition from a Jewish magician and false prophet, but the Lord used that opposition to further His own plan of salvation that extended throughout that island.

From Cyprus they sailed to the region of Pamphylia, today in south central Turkey. It was in the Pamphylian city of Perga where John Mark abandoned Paul and Barnabas to return home. From that coastal area Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to a different Antioch in the northern parts of Pisidia and southern Galatia. In that city and in their next stop, Iconium, they had great success followed by great opposition from those in the synagogues who rejected the message of Jesus as Suffering Servant of God and Messiah. Leaving behind new churches in both of these places, Paul and Barnabas journeyed into the region of Lycaonia, facing the astounding rise and fall of first being proclaimed gods and then facing the violent opposition of angry Jews from Antioch and Iconium who had come to hunt them down. Those visitors stirred up the Lycaonian mob which stoned Paul and dragged his body outside of their city. As the church in Lystra gathered around Paul he rose up miraculously, went back into Lystra and then continued on the next day to Derbe, another city of the Lycaonians where they made many disciples.

From there they began the journey back to their starting point, but not taking the shorter route of continuing east. They deliberately returned to the cities where they had faced such strong opposition, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the churches with the message of Christ and appointing elders in each of the cities. In this brief period of time Christian churches were being established in the midst of opposition throughout this region which is today central Turkey.

Paul and Barnabas then returned through the regions of Pisidia and Pamphylia to Perga and then finally to the coastal city of Attalia where they sailed back to the first Antioch in the southwest tip of modern Turkey. Whew! The trip covered about 1000 miles and took about two years from beginning to end. There were some tremendous moments of victory and some frightening episodes of grave danger and disappointment. Churches were established and strengthened. While these were certainly not the first missionary activities of the Christian church, this is the first account that we have of an acknowledged and deliberate partnership between God the Holy Spirit and a church that wanted to serve Him in accord with His call to expand His kingdom.

[27] And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

It was back to this great church full of Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles in Antioch of Syria that Paul and Barnabas returned. When they came back they gathered the church together and gave the exciting report on their labors mentioned in these brief verses.

It is worth noting three things about their own assessment of these great labors. First, they declared to the sending church in Antioch that all that had taken place in Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia was the work of God. This is still the case today. From before the first word of creation, “Let there be light,” through the words of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished,” and continuing beyond the coming trumpet blast announcing the fullness of the kingdom of the Alpha and the Omega, the kingdom is the Lord's. He is the one who is fulfilling His perfect purpose, and though we face many dangers and troubles, God will never be stopped.

Second, what God did on this journey he did through men that were yielded to his purpose and who were sent out with prayer and fasting by a church that was determined to be used for His sovereign will. God does everything, but He has determined to do what he does through us. The apostle Paul writes about this amazing plan of God extensively in Second Corinthians. See especially 2 Corinthians 4. Imagine that God has granted to people “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!” The Lord's method matches the message of a divine Savior who had his first bed in a feeding trough. “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” Everything looks too lowly, but God works His strong grace through our weakness.

Third, the saving grace of God has come to the world. This was announced so many centuries before to Abraham. All the clans of the earth would be blessed through him. Now with the coming of Christ and the Spirit-directed proclamation of His grace, a door of faith had opened to the Gentiles. God opened that door. If that was a reason to praise Him back in the first century because of a two to three year missionary journey in Cyprus and part of Turkey, how much more should the church praise the Lord who has saved us by His blood today. We have seen the name of Christ go everywhere! Churches have been established, and the love of the Lord is moving forward still today even through all the tribulations that have been appointed by the God who works all things together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.

[28] And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Why not just get back on the road right away then? If God had opened a door why not go through it again? That day would come. The Lord knows what He is doing, and when He will do it. A great work is being accomplished in Turkey today through much suffering and opposition. But then every soul made alive by the grace of God and saved by the blood of the Lamb is a brave new world of resurrection life to be nurtured and loved.

They stayed in Antioch no little time with the disciples because the growth in the faith of the sending church mattered to God just as much as the new doors opening up in Cyprus or Perga or among the Lycaonian people. If you have passed from death to life in Jesus Christ you are a new creation in Him. The old way is gone. When the cover came off of Noah's ark, God told His servant to go forth from that place of rescue and to be fruitful and multiply upon the earth. A new day has begun in you. Walk out of the ark in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Let us explore together the new life of resurrection that Christ has purchased for us with His blood.

1. What surprises you about Paul's itinerary?

2. What message did Paul and Barnabas give upon their return to Antioch?

3. What is the biblical significance of the Lord opening a door of faith to the Gentiles?

4. Why stay in Antioch when a door of faith is opened in new locations?

OT Passage: Genesis 8

Enough is enough...

7/29/2012 – Evening Service  –  5pm

“When we grow up”

(Titus 2:1-2)

[2:1] But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

There were some men in the congregations of Crete who were not to be teachers, but Paul wanted Titus to know that he was not one of them. Titus was supposed to be a teacher. He was to be an agent of God in teaching the kind of life that was appropriate for those who believed in healthy doctrine.

It is healthy for people to believe in an Almighty God who saved us through the blood of His Son and who showed us what salvation will fully mean in His resurrection from the dead. That healthy teaching should be manifested in lives of godliness among those who profess to believe. It was the job of Titus not only to teach the beliefs of one who was a follower of Christ, but to instruct others in the life appropriate to those beliefs.

[2] Older men

This one principle, that healthy life should flow from healthy faith, had specific application to various groups within the church. It would be applied somewhat differently to older men than to others in the churches. There may also be some differences that need to be mentioned in one culture or another. We need to see today that men are having a hard time growing up. It is not unusual to meet a man in his 50s who still behaves like a boy. This may be applauded by others, but we need to be those who see that it has some severe limitations. Jesus wants his followers to grow up and to know that they are called to the costly life of sacrificial love rather than the self-focused life of personal entertainment.

are to be sober-minded,

Men should aspire to be sober-minded. The word Paul used means “sober.” Older men should be sober. A man can act like he is drunk by habit without having a drop of alcohol. How can you tell if someone is drunk? Is it just the smell of his breath and the slurred speech? Isn't also a loss of propriety that seeks what one would not seek if he were in his right mind? We need a right mind according to the gospel that we believe, a mind that loves the glory of Jesus Christ, a mind that hopes in the resurrection, and seeks to live out life in mature and humble service of our King. This is sobriety. Best to be filled with the holy Spirit, to rejoice in the Lord, to be continually thankful in the name of Jesus, submitting to one another out of reverence for the only Redeemer of mankind.

dignified,

Older men are to be dignified, not merely in a way that would seem respectable among earthly society but especially that which would be viewed as worthy of honor and even worship among the inhabitants of heaven. The very actions of heavenly worship might seem extreme to those who are lost in the value system of a fading world. In heaven such worship is considered entirely appropriate and dignified. To Michal, David's dancing was unseemly. In heaven they loved it. Actually, to show nothing of the joy and enthusiasm of heavenly life in earthly worship is undignified for one who professes to follow the Son of David, especially if one has plenty of enthusiasm for things that will fade away quickly like extravagant palaces and physical beauty.

self-controlled,

Far from simply fitting in well in the eyes of a world steeped in the temporary, older men are to be self-controlled about those matters that drive most men to distraction or that win the applause of the populace. The man who lives out the doctrine of Christ with a heavenly mind cares the most about things that most people may yawn at, and loves deeply what many in a perverse world have come to view as dangerous. This requires a spirit that is more governed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God than one that is able to fit well into every social setting.

sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

Jesus did not fit well into every crowd, but He was perfectly healthy in God's eyes in His faith, His love, and His steadfastness. Jesus was genuine and appropriately engaged in that which was of first importance. He was perfectly motivated by what should cause us to be passionate and energetic.

Older men are not to be hypocrites who fit hand in glove around those people who matter most to the world. Older men are to be like their Savior. This is the practical teaching that accords with the best doctrine.

Jesus believed the Word even when the synagogue people in Nazareth were angry enough about what He said to want to throw Him off a cliff. He loved us to the end, dying on a cross for us, when the sensible thing even to his closest disciple was that such a thing should most definitely be forbidden by God. Jesus is still full of steadfastness in His care for His church even down to this present late hour when the love of many seems to have grown cold.

It is time for older men like me to be what we are going to be when we grow up. It is time for us to be like Jesus.

Through many tribulations...

 “Why are you angry?”

(Acts 14:19-23, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 22, 2012)

[19] But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium,

The earliest religious arguments recorded in the life of the New Testament church were between Jews and Jews. Some Jews, as Paul himself once did, vigorously denied that Jesus was the Messiah. Other Jews became what Paul himself had become: Jews that were convinced that the Messiah had died for their sins and risen again from the dead.

The debate between the two groups was not a yawner. In fact, the Jews who rejected the Jesus that Paul preached were offended enough by this departure from what they considered to be true Judaism that they were willing to travel many miles in order to try to stop Paul. What made this especially interesting is that we remember that Paul himself had once done exactly the same thing. He traveled to other cities in order to attempt to stop the message of the resurrection of a crucified Jewish Messiah.

Those Jews from Antioch and Iconium who rejected the message of Jesus had already had enough energy to run the apostle Paul out of their respective towns. But they were angry enough to pursue him to the town of Lystra in the region of Lycaonia where the local population had recently concluded that he and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus, gods come in the likeness of men.

and having persuaded the crowds,

Now these new Jews were presenting a different message, and they were able to persuade the crowds that rather than being gods, at least the Hermes figure, Paul, the one who talked the most of the two, should be killed rather than worshiped. The adoration of a crowd can be very short-lived.

How would the Jews from Antioch and Iconium have made their case? Remember the Lycaonians were a pagan people that were trying to be safe by showing that they were on the right side of the gods when they wanted to lavish honors upon Barnabas and Paul. Any evidence that excited their fears in a different direction might have been enough to turn the crowd into a dangerous mob.

they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

Whatever persuasion they used to make their case, it was effective. They stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city limits. The choice of sanctions was interesting, since this Old Testament penalty of stoning would have been the natural advice of the religious experts from Antioch and Iconium. The fact that they dragged his body out of the city tells us that they did not think it was enough to kill him. They did not want his corpse bringing danger from the gods upon their town.

They supposed that he was dead. Christianity is notoriously difficult to kill. When you think that you have defeated it, it seems to have an uncanny ability to rise again. As with the King, so with His ambassadors.

[20] But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

The disciples gathered around what everyone supposed to be the dead body of Paul. But Paul was not dead. As the church, such as it was, gathered around him, he rose up. Not only that, he went back into the city!

The next day he and Barnabas continued the mission for which they were set apart, a mission that the risen Jesus gave to Paul on the road to Damascus, a mission that Christ had given more generally to the entire church: make disciples of all nations. The church could not be stopped because Jesus will not be stopped. They went on to Derbe, another Lycaonian city.

[21] When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

We know that these labors bore fruit because from Derbe, rather than head east back to Syria, they decided to make the journey west precisely to the cities where they had faced such angry opposition. They made many disciples in Derbe, but there were disciples in each of these cities. The point is that there was a reason to go back again to Lystra, Iconium, and to Antioch in Pisidia. The church had been born in each of those towns by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22] strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith,

What message did they bring to the new believers in each of those places? One thing that we can say for certain is that it was not a new message, since they encouraged them to continue in the faith. The message of Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are not looking for a new Jesus or a new gospel with every challenge that we face in life. We want to continue in the faith.

We can also say that this same message was effectual. It was the means that God has appointed to strengthen the souls of the disciples in every place and time. It does not come to us with a new Messiah, a new morality, or a new doctrine. The eternal souls that have been made alive by grace are also strengthened in that same grace.

and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. [23] 

What was new was the added experience of endurance in the faith that God had given them. Paganism only wants to be safe. If you have to drag a dead body outside of the city gates in order to keep the city inside those gates safe, then you do that. The Christ-following message is not searching for superstitious ways to stay safe. We want to stay with Jesus, even when we are assured that it must be through many tribulations that we will enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.Elders need to help the church to remember that. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders and committed them to the Lord in every church. Elders do not lead us in religious anger or in crippling fear. They lead us is faith. They shepherd the flock toward the unchanging Jesus.

Why do people get angry enough to murder other people? I suppose we would have to ask Cain why he angry enough to kill his brother. My guess is that Paul knew the answer all too well. I do know this: winning arguments does not seem to get rid of self-righteous indignation, it only feeds the beast. Only Christ can bring us the resurrection life we need to be able to love murderous enemies. If we have love like that we have a powerful gift that the world has rarely seen.

1. Why did Jews from Antioch and Iconium travel all the way to Lystra?

2. What did Paul and Barnabas do after facing such violent opposition in Lystra?

3. What did they teach the churches on their return to each city?

4. Why did they appoint elders in every city?

OT Passage: Genesis 4:1-8

No, you can't teach that here.

“That they may be sound in the faith”

(Titus 1:10-16)

[10] For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. [11] They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

I like to believe that every Christian is a living letter of Christ, and that he has at least one good sermon in him, not about himself, but about the Lord. But not everyone is set apart by Christ and His church to be a shepherd in the church. Not everyone who insists on being first and who demands to be heard should be listened to. Some need to be silenced.

This is a painful duty for those who are already elders in a church. The alternative that is often chosen is a non-confrontational avoidance, a tolerance that is not love for God, for the church, or even for the one who insists on his own way. Tolerance can destroy whole families when someone is allowed to teach what he should not be teaching. Add to that problem of bad spiritual content the ugly motive of greed for gain and you have a dangerous mix that can quickly destroy a church. The beginning of this plague was already happening in Crete, especially among those who had embraced the message of the necessity of circumcision for right standing in the church.

[12] One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” [13] This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, [14] not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

Every culture is challenged by the culture of heaven. The heavenly way of life was perfectly demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth, particularly in his willingness to suffer and serve as the expression of the love of God for the unworthy. The cross as a glorious shame, and not circumcision as an emblem of religious boasting, was and still is the only banner for those who would follow the Master Servant.

But the way of Christ was not easy, and Cretans tended to be lazy gluttons. Cretans who embraced a gospel of right standing with God through circumcision (which is no gospel at all) not only wanted to sit around on their couches while everyone else worked, they also wanted to spread lies that they had come to see as the new way for the church. Titus needed to confront them sharply. They would not have responded to subtle hints. They needed to be redirected to be healthy or “sound” in their faith in Christ, and not fall prey to a false message of salvation that was only spiritual bondage.

[15] To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. [16] They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

The Law is pure, but it can be used unlawfully. Being sound in faith, seeing the preeminence of Christ in all church life and in all Christian fruitfulness is fundamental to healthy living. Every other way that promotes itself as a better alternative will not be healthy for the church. How do elders stop arrogant people who could harm the church without just creating more enemies? The only way is to listen, learn, and love... but don't think that means affirming dangerous error. Confrontation will be essential.

Just say no to idols...

 “Good News” and “Earnest Counsel”

(Acts 14:8-18, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 8, 2012)

[8] Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. [9] He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, [10] said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.

From Antioch on the border of southern Galatia to Iconium and now to Lystra, Paul and Barnabas bring the message of the God who saves. They go first to the Jews and then to the Greeks. But the Lord who created the heavens and the earth is more than able to open new doors.

Lystra was one of the cities of a region called Lycaonia, which had its own local language and culture. In this town of Lystra, a man who was lame from birth was among the crowd listening to the Apostle Paul about the life that comes from Jesus. What was Paul talking about? He must have been speaking about the Lord's demonstration that the age of resurrection had come. We can guess that because the man heard something in Paul's message that he found relevant to his particular infirmity. We know that Paul preached about Jesus and the resurrection wherever he went, not only about the personal resurrection of Jesus, but about what that one resurrection meant as the beginning of a new era of resurrection. Consider Revelation 21:1-4 and the culmination of what began with one Man rising from the dead. The new Jerusalem was visibly present in the person of the resurrected Jesus, and now in the preaching of the message of Jesus.

Paul was able to see something in this crippled man. He saw that “he had faith to be made well.” He was sure enough about what he saw in that man's soul, that he did an amazing thing. He told him in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” What courage! But more importantly, what resurrection power from heaven seen now among the Lycaonian people. That man sprang up on his formerly lame feet and began walking for the first time in his life. That just doesn't happen. We need to look at people that we might think of as hopeless, and start thinking about what they and we are going to be like in the new creation. We need to have faith that a day is coming when there will be no more pain and no more sin. What a gift that lame man had to believe!

[11] And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” [12] Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

The crowd was floored by what they saw. Just another historical fact that you need to consider. These people were not Christians, but they were witnesses of resurrection power in someone they knew to be lame from birth. Lycaonia needed to be healed. It started with one lame man.

They did what a pagan people would do. These were not Gentiles that had been following the religion of Judaism as observers. These were people that held to the Greek pantheon of Gods. They believed in Zeus and Hermes, and were pretty sure that they had come in person looking like people. What a concept! God coming down to us in the likeness of a man... God has done that, not only appearing as a man as seemed to happen in Old Testament times through the ministry of angels, but becoming a man forever and yet retaining the fullness of His divinity. Jesus is now fully God and fully resurrection man. The Lycaonian crowd did not understand that at this point, but many of them would, and the entire region would be changed.

[13] And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

One man who was listening to Paul's message had faith to be healed, One crowd in Lystra saw what happened and responded according to their belief system. Now one priest of Zeus did what made sense to him and to almost everyone else around him. He brought oxen to kill in ritual sacrifice to a false god.

His role was to lead the people in an abomination. But it did not seem like an abomination to him. He was doing what made sense in the idolatrous world of the Lycaonian people. This was nature religion. It was the religion of mankind in the absence of special revelation. It produced fear, fear of gods that did not clearly speak and could not clearly be know but who had to be appeased. But now the gods had appeared in the form of men.

[14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, [15] “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

The priest was the religious expert mediating between a willing crowd and two gods that had become men. But the two gods were not gods, and they were unwilling to receive the worship of the people. They had already given up their lives to serve the one true and living God who had become man in order to save us from sin and death through His own death and resurrection.

Messengers of Jesus cannot go along with pagan ceremonies. Paul and Barnabas were apostolic ambassadors of the only deity, the God of the Jews, the Lord. See Exodus 34:6-7. Consider what happened in Exodus 32. Christ's servants come to bring good news. It pains them to receive worship that should only be received by God. They know that they are men and not gods.

Idol worship was and is empty at best. Turning away from that bondage and turning toward the living God through Jesus our Redeemer is the only sensible way for those who find themselves stuck in the bad news of idolatry. Open the good news of the Scriptures and find life through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and turn away from every form of nature worship. Turn to the Creator of nature, and the One who makes all things new.

[16] In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. [17] Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” [18] Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.

With this good news that comes to us from the Word of God comes also the earnest counsel of new godly friends, again according to that Word. The days of God's tolerance of all the nations walking in their own ways are now over. Thankfully. The new day of God's loving correction of paganism is much better, better even than all the rain, the crops, the food that he has given to people for so many centuries.

Why does God have no more tolerance for nature worship and other forms of creation idolatry? Jesus has come. He is God's good news to all the nations, and God's earnest counsel from a loving friend to all who need to break away from the crippling fear of idols so that they can leap with the joy of heaven. Are you stuck in some mess? No hope for the future? The Lord is near. Stand up in Jesus, in His Word, and in His service, and be healed!

1. Describe the miracle that took place in Lystra.

2. What were some of the results of this great miracle?

3. Why did Paul and Barnabas not receive the adoration of the crowds?

4. How did the apostles use this moment to give some earnest counsel?

OT Passage: Proverbs 27:9

Hope that can be experienced now through godliness

“Paul, Titus, and Our Savior”

(Titus 1:1-4)

[1:1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,

Paul. We know him. But he does not say everything about himself as he begins this brief letter to Titus concerning the connection between what Christians have experienced of the grace of God and how they live out their lives. We want to pay close attention to what he says about himself so that we will be best prepared to receive the point of this epistle. This Paul is a servant of God and an apostle, an ambassador, of Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul is not his own man. He serves another. His Lord sends him, and he obeys.

for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,

The apostle is not a servant who is unaware of his master's purposes. He knows that Jesus Christ has sent him out into the world to bring a trustworthy message for the chosen people of God, His elect. They are to grow in the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. This true spiritual knowledge brings forth the fruit of obedient living which is referred to here as “godliness.” I wonder why we don't seem to talk about godliness very much in our day? It certainly seems like it was very important to Paul and to Paul's master.

[2] in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began [3] and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;Godliness is of necessity lived out in the moment. If you refer to the godliness of a person in the past or what you hope will be the godliness of that same person at a later date, you are only talking about godliness. To actually do godliness must always be a present engagement. Yet Paul says that the present exercise of obedience to Jesus Christ has a very powerful future orientation, which is called in the Bible “hope.”

Hope is believing steadfastly in the future promises of God. God prepared us for a life of hope by the messages that He gave through Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament. But hope became visible in the coming of Jesus in person. Jesus, especially in His resurrection appearances, was the future incarnate, a proof to those who would be witnesses of the truth of the promise of a resurrection age to come already reserved for us in the heavens and alive in the hearts of all who believe. The message of hope was entrusted to people like Paul. They were commanded to preach it to people like you and I. Jesus is God our Savior. He gave Paul this message. That is a historical fact well worth considering in light of verse 3. This future hope that was present in the person of the Son of God is also present in us now.

[4] To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.Men like Titus are supposed to be like Paul. They are not apostles in the technical sense of those few that were foundational ambassadors for the Lord. But they serve in that more general ambassadorial role that all ministers and all Christians have. Through the preaching and believing of the Word the future glory of God is made present for you now. This is grace and peace for all who will hear and believe. It is from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior, not only as some far away gift, but as a present way of life.