In Titus 2, Paul repeatedly calls the church to lives marked by self-control, goodness, and faithfulness. But Christian self-control is about more than willpower or trying harder. Andy explores how the grace of God not only saves us but also trains and transforms us through the work of the Holy Spirit. Along the way, he considers the importance of reading difficult passages about slavery within the broader biblical story and reflects on how spiritual growth happens as we draw closer to God and allow the Spirit to shape our lives from the inside out.
Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Friday morning. I hope you’re doing well, that you’ve had a great week, and that you’re looking forward to a great weekend.
It’s going to be a busy weekend here in Starkville. Mississippi State has a home game, so if you’re coming to town for the game, we’d love for you to join us this Sunday at Starkville First United Methodist Church.
We’ve got a big day planned! Our low brass ensemble is going to play, and I’ve often said that there’s nothing that makes a song better than a horn section. So come to Starkville First this Sunday and enjoy the horns accompanying many of our hymns. It’s always fun.
We’ll also have our Fall Fest Sunday afternoon, so it’s going to be a great day of worship, fellowship, and fun. If you’re in the Starkville area this weekend, we hope you’ll make plans to worship with us Sunday morning at Starkville First United Methodist Church, right here downtown.
Today, we’re continuing our journey through the pastoral epistles with Titus chapter 2. We’re taking roughly a chapter a day, so we’ll finish Titus on Monday with chapter 3. After that, we’ll move to Philemon, and then we’ll head back to the Old Testament.
I don’t know exactly where we’ll go in the Old Testament yet, but we’ll figure that out next week. That’s a next-week Andy problem!
For today, let’s turn to Titus 2.
Paul begins by telling Titus to teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. He then gives instructions to different groups within the church. Older men are to be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in faith, love, and endurance. Older women are to live reverently and teach what is good. Younger women and younger men are given instructions about how to live faithfully, and Paul even addresses the conduct of enslaved people within the society of his day.
Then we get to the heart of the passage, beginning in verse 11. Paul writes that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, and that this grace trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
That’s where I want us to spend our time today.
As we saw yesterday, one of the recurring themes in Titus is the need for self-control. Paul is writing to Titus about the churches in Crete, a place where he describes people as being unruly and where false teaching is causing problems. The culture Titus is addressing is presented as a place where people are not living according to the kind of character Paul expects of followers of Jesus.
And so Paul keeps coming back to this idea of self-control.
Older men are to be temperate and prudent. Older women are not to be slanderers or enslaved to too much wine. Younger men are to be self-controlled. And all of this is connected to the larger call to live in a way that reflects the gospel.
There is one part of this passage that I want to acknowledge before we go further. Paul tells enslaved people to be submissive to their masters. He does not condemn slavery in this passage, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
We can recognize that slavery in the Roman world took different forms from the racialized, hereditary chattel slavery that developed in the Americas. But that distinction does not erase the reality that Paul is addressing people who are enslaved and telling them how to live within that system.
This is one of those places where we need to read Scripture carefully and honestly. We cannot build our entire theology on a single verse or even a handful of verses. We have to read individual passages within the larger story of Scripture.
And that larger story includes God’s concern for the oppressed, the biblical call to justice, and Jesus’ proclamation of good news to the poor and release to the captives. We also see that enslaved people were part of the Christian community and recipients of the same grace of God.
So we need to take this passage seriously, acknowledge what it says, and read it in the context of the whole biblical witness.
Now, returning to our central theme, notice how often Paul emphasizes self-control. He keeps coming back to it because the character of our lives matters. The way we speak, the way we treat other people, the way we handle our desires, and the way we conduct ourselves are all part of what it means to follow Jesus.
And I think we need to understand something important about this self-control.
Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul says that in Galatians 5. And that matters because the self-control Paul is talking about is more than simply having strong willpower.
There is a difference between self-discipline as an act of sheer will and self-control as a fruit of the Spirit.
Now, I’m not saying that discipline doesn’t matter. Of course it does. We have choices to make, habits to develop, and responsibilities to fulfill. But Christian growth is not simply a matter of gritting our teeth and trying harder.
It’s not just about saying, “I’m going to do better. I’m going to stop doing this. I’m going to start doing that. I’m going to try harder tomorrow.”
If that’s all our faith becomes, then we can easily turn the Christian life into a system of rules and regulations. We can begin to believe that holiness is something we accomplish through our own effort, and before long, our faith becomes an exercise in willpower rather than a life shaped by grace.
But look at what Paul says in Titus 2: the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation, and that same grace trains us to live differently.
Grace doesn’t simply save us from something. Grace also forms us into someone.
The Holy Spirit works within us, shaping our desires, convicting us of sin, and leading us toward what is good. The Spirit helps us recognize those moments when our words are becoming gossip, when our anger is getting the better of us, or when our appetites are beginning to control our decisions.
But the Spirit doesn’t simply tell us what to stop doing. The Spirit also leads us toward what we ought to do.
We become people who practice kindness, who speak with integrity, who serve our neighbors, and who pursue goodness. We begin to desire the things that reflect the character of Jesus.
That is the work of sanctification. As we grow in our faith, God is continually shaping us into the people we were created to be.
And that growth begins with submitting ourselves to God.
We draw closer to God through prayer, worship, Scripture, and life in Christian community. We make ourselves available to the Spirit’s work. We listen when the Spirit convicts us, and we respond when the Spirit calls us to act.
Over time, we discover that we’re not simply forcing ourselves to behave differently. We’re being changed from the inside out.
Now, that doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing. Grace doesn’t eliminate our responsibility to respond. We still have to make choices. We still have to practice faithfulness. We still have to say no to things that are harmful and yes to the things God calls us to do.
But we do those things in response to God’s grace, trusting the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.
And that brings us back to Titus.
Titus has been entrusted with the task of helping a church live faithfully in a challenging environment. Paul calls the people to a different way of life—not simply because they need to follow a list of rules, but because the grace of God has appeared in Jesus Christ.
They are to live differently because they belong to Jesus. Their lives are to reflect the One who gave himself for them.
And the same is true for us.
As we think about our own Christian growth, let’s not reduce faithfulness to the idea that we simply need to do more or try harder. Instead, let’s ask ourselves how we can draw closer to God and become more attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Where do I need to listen to the Spirit’s conviction? Where do I need to let go of a habit or attitude that is keeping me from living faithfully? And where might the Spirit be inviting me to take a positive step toward goodness, service, or love?
Friends, Christian self-control is not simply about exercising our own willpower. It is about allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our lives so that our actions increasingly reflect the character of Jesus.
So today, may we draw close to God, submit ourselves to the Spirit, and trust the grace that not only saves us but continues to transform us.
Thanks for being with me today. Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope to see some of you Sunday at Starkville First. On Monday, we’ll pick up with Titus chapter 3.
Have a great day!