Saturday, March 5, 2011

Epistle of Obedience

Titus was converted to the gospel by Paul somewhere along his first or second mission to Antioch. Titus was a missionary and helper for Paul. Paul sends him a letter telling him that his duty had been in Crete to set up the church and to organize and ordain elders in every city. Paul must have had lots of faith and trust in Titus to leave him up to organize the church and ordain leaders.
So basically, Titus was a bishop in Crete. In Paul's letter to Titus he outlines to duties and characteristics of a bishop: calm, charitable, hospitable, loving all men, sober, just, holy, temperate, and faithful. This is the kind of man that has been left to teach the people of Crete. Paul goes on to talk about the faults of the people in Crete that Titus is in charge of, saying they are vain, unruly, dishonest, and teaching false doctrine for "filthy lucre". Paul advices Titus to rebuke the people and bring them back to righteousness.
Paul tells Titus to preach to them the things that become sound doctrine, the basic principles. He says that the aged will be humble and sober, they will be faithful, charitable, and patient. The aged will be able to teach the young and set examples for them.
We too sometimes get impatient with people who do not just listen, but we must remember that we have all had to find our own testimony at some point in our lives and that the Lord had mercy on us. We must have mercy on them, they will learn, and we must help them. For it is by the Lord's grace that we will be saved, after all we have done to prove our faith.
It does not help to ask foolish questions that don't have any real meaning to the plan of salvation or the gospel. There is no point asking our selves doubting questions when they don't really matter. They are only a ploy of Satan to distract us from the real importance and our faith. We must follow the commandments and laws with faith and an eye single to the glory of God.

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