Have the right attitude to those in authority and all

Text Titus 3:1, 2 Time 13/10/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

At the beginning of Titus 3 Paul tells Titus that there are a number of things that he wants him to teach to everybody. We have had the specialised teaching for older men and young men, older women and younger. Now he is told what to teach more generally.

There are appear to be some six commandments altogether but they can be grouped into two main parts. First Paul is concerned about the attitude of the Christians in Crete towards those in authority and then, more generally, towards all sorts of people. So once again this is very practical. As Matthew Henry says “Forgetfulness of duty is a common frailty; there is need therefore of reminding and quickening them thereto”.
We live in very different times, of course, to the first century Christians on Crete who Paul has in mind here. They were under Roman rule, living when Nero was still in power in Rome. We live in twenty first century London in a democracy. They related to a fairly limited number of others, chiefly by means of face to face contacts and letters. We today have contact with a potentially much larger circle of people and communicate by means of telephones, emails and many other modern devices quite apart from what they knew in the first century. Nevertheless, the principles remain the same. What God wanted for them, he wants for us too and we do well to consider carefully what Paul has to say to Titus here and see how that should affect the way we live today.

1. Remember how to relate to rulers and authorities

Here Paul says one general thing and then two things that appear to grow out of that general statement.

1. In general Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities

Jesus had said Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. That teaching goes back to the Old Testament where the people are told, for example,

Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Jeremiah 27:17 Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live.

Out of such teachings come Paul's teaching here and in Romans and elsewhere.

Romans 13:1-7 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour.

1 Timothy 2:2 urges prayer for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Peter is similar (1 Peter 2:13-15)

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

An attitude of subjection should mark all our dealings with those in authority at what ever level – from the parking attendant in the street to the Queen herself and all stops between.

Apparently, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd is touring The Wall once again, 20 years on. One American writer (John Ore) writes


I first saw the theatrical release of The Wall in the common room of my freshman dorm, sometime in the fall of 1988. I was passably familiar with the work of Pink Floyd, mostly via the ubiquity of “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II” and its demand that teachers leave those kids alone. As a punk rock kid of the 1980s, I was intimately familiar with its theme of rebellion and anti-authority; as a freshman at Berkeley, I was also incredibly stoned when I saw it.


Obviously, time has moved on but there is still a general feeling that rock music and other art forms should be encouraging some sort of rebellion. Such an attitude is inimical to the Christian approach.

Here is a question regarding our attitude first then. Am I ready and willing to show suibmission to all sorts of authority?

2. Specifically to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good

1 to be obedient

More specifically Paul call for obedience to those in authority. There can be little doubt that Paul feared that with their new found freedom in Christ believers may be tempted to treat the authorities with contempt and fail to obey them. For many reasons that is the last thing that Paul wants. Rather obedience to those in authority is a thing to prize.

More practically then. Am I obedient to the powers that be?

2 to be ready to do whatever is good

Paul does not stop with obedience. Rather he says there should be a readiness to do whatever is good. This may relate directly to our attitude to those in authority or may be more general, probably the former without discounting the latter. It is a common theme with Paul

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 Timothy 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Here we go a notch up again. Am I willing not only to obey but also to do whatever is good?

2. Understand how to relate to all sorts of people

With these instructions Paul adds three more that appear to relate more clearly to how we relate to all sorts of people, regardless of whether they are in authority over us or not.

As Christians we are

1. to slander no one

In many places in Scripture we are warned against slandering others. It is one of the sins of the tongue and one that we must take great care to avoid. It is so easy, especially when we are trying to talk up the gospel and cry down what is false to fall into. We must not. Speak only the truth and speak only what commends others.

2. to be peaceable and considerate

Again, you can see how Paul is very much aware of the danger that the newly converted and others may begin to go around causing trouble. How easy it is for young Christians to go around upsetting people and being discourteous towards them. I know that when I was first converted that was one of my dangers. Rather, as Paul puts it elsewhere, we should seek to be at peace with all men, as far as it lies in us. We must be considerate towards all who we meet. Think of them. Surely that is basic to Christianity if we properly understand it. Remember the golden rule – do to others as you would have them do to you.

3. and to show true humility toward all men

Here finally, is a call to meekness before all. Peter says the same thing in 1 Peter 3:15, 16

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Perhaps I can finish with these words about John Wilson a Sheffield businessman (in the Evangelical Magazine of 1849). The writer speaks of his unfeigned humility.

This in him was a beautiful grace; and as the apostle says, he was " clothed with humility." He wore it. It was his attraction. It made him lovely, and he was loved for it. It made him a lovely Christian, and thus he recommended Christianity. In a part of the funeral sermon, preached on occasion of his death in Queen-street Chapel, Sheffield, the following testimony was borne:

"I shall never," said the preacher, "forget my first interview with him, some years ago. Often and long I had heard heard him spoken of; but never till then had I seen, in a person of his station, so interesting a proof of the amiableness of religion. It won me more than ever to the love of the religion of Jesus. I saw its adaptation to the rich, equally with the poor. I saw, and I believed ; and as often as I remember the circumstance, I see and believe it over again."

The notion of his wealth and rank in society never created one vain feeling; while his piety, graced with genuine humility, was his higher and more lasting adornment. His humility was what, in its measure, prepared him for heaven, and what he took with him to heaven. It is what he wears there. No " spirit made perfect," we are ready to think, will ever wear it more thoroughly. The posture of the seraphim will be his. There is a blessedness attendant on such humility on earth, while it is "crowned with glory " in the paradise of God.

His affection towards others entered largely into the elements of his Christian character.

For this affection he was pre-eminent from the first of his Christian career. It was the habitual feeling of his heart. He could not have lived at variance with any one. His mind was formed for peace. Dissension would have troubled him more than most things. He must either have heaven upon earth by being " at peace with all men," or he must be taken to heaven away from earth.

Such was the temperature of his mind, the calmness in which he delighted to repose. Religion to him was everything. It was infinitely above " thousands of gold and silver;" while, next to its principles, he looked at its precepts, which he studied to embody in a life of unvarying peacefulness and Christian love. From his hope in Christ as a Saviour sprung his affection for Christ, and for the poorest member of the church; until every one saw that his religion was a religion of love,—of love to God and to men,—a religion that directed his earlier steps, that soothed him in the decline of life, and yielded him joy when his " heart and his flesh " began to " fail." ....