Category: Devotions

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Five stages of discipleship … but there is more!

In an interview with a long-time friend, U2’s Bono, responded to the sometimes-stained reputation of the church throughout history:  “Religion can be the enemy of God. It’s often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building. A list of instructions where there was once conviction; dogma where once people just did it; a congregation led by a man where once they were led by the Holy Spirit. Discipline replacing discipleship”.  (Michka Assayas, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas)

Our enemy is performance. Performance will never lead to true discipleship.  The church has rules. Christians have rules. Things we have learnt over the years that if we do them prove we are good. This is not discipleship. We step into performance the moment we behave as if Christianity brings man to God. This is not discipleship either. Even that sentence may cause some of us to have to read it again as it appears correct! But central to Christianity is the truth that it is the story of God coming to man, every other religion has it the other way round. Sadly the church sometimes follows suit. For we all like a good performance.

Yet if we don’t speak and behave differently then who will find ‘God our Saviour attractive’, v10? So we must ‘teach’, we must disciple, but it is not in order to be acceptable to God but for mission.

“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. 6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. 9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.” (Titus 2 v 1-10)

Can you see what is happening here?

Paul

He is commanding Titus to teach, v1. This is the first stage of discipleship.

Titus

He was to ‘teach, v2; ‘teach’ v3; ‘encourage’ v6; ‘set them an example’ v7; ‘show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech’ v 7-8; ‘teach’ v9. Who? The older generation, the younger generation and the slaves. This is the second stage of discipleship.

The older generation

The older men were to demonstrate temperance, respect, self-control, faith, love and endurance, v2; and the older women were to be reverent in the way they live, v3.  This is the 3rd stage of discipleship.

The younger generation

They were to respect the older generation, v2; the younger men were particular called to be self-controlled and the younger married women especially were to correctly love their husbands and children, v4-5. This is the 4th stage of discipleship.

The slaves

They were to be loyal, v9; and to be fully trusted in everything, v10. This is the final stage of discipleship that Paul creates.

Paul clearly shows us five stages of discipleship but it never ends and that is the whole point.

Think of who the younger generation impact? What changes did this bring to the husbands of the young wives and their own children and more importantly who did they pass this on to, who did they impact? The answer is that many nameless people are blessed by this chain of discipleship and it never ends. What about the masters of the slaves who were disciples? How did this impact on how they treated their other slaves?

So basically:-

  1. Discipleship is for every generation
  2. Discipleship is always passed on.
  3. Discipleship produces good results, which are:-

We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behaviour, v5 (Message)

Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around, v8. (Message)

Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding lustre to the teaching of our Saviour God, v10.

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But you/you however

Paul is about to write that Titus should give practical instructions to the different age groups in the church. Sound doctrine is not mere theory for it must flow into practical living for everyone. There are 2 words he uses to move into that section and they are really important for Titus and for us.

“You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.” (Titus 2 v 1)

In the original it reads ‘but you’. The emphasis is on ‘you’ and the ‘but’ (or here in the NIV, ‘however’) is in contrast to:-

… rebellious people… meaningless talk … deception, v10; But you/You however …

… disrupting whole households … teaching things they ought not to teach… dishonest gain, v11; But you/You however …

… myths … merely human commands, v14; But you/You however …

 … corrupted … do not believe, … minds and consciences are corrupted, v15 But you/You however …

 … by their actions they deny him … detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good, v16 But you/You however …

But you/you however:

  • You don’t have to drift theologically.
  • You can live an authentic life.
  • You can be a disciple that is continually formed like Christ.
  • You can keep to a standard of evaluating what you hear.

You don’t have to follow suit.

You can stand in contrast to the culture around you.

You can make and be the difference.

You can walk into the same environment but speak differently.

You can create a better sound.

It can be said of you:- But you/you however.

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The call to take your stand.

In just a few verses we are going to see that the assignment for Titus needed for him to be courageous and to move forward to deal with very difficult islanders. Crete doesn’t sound to have been a very nice place. Yet it was here that churches had been planted and Titus had to now train and appoint leaders to oversee them.

It is not easy being a leader. There are often seasons of conflict and solving problems can be very taxing. A leader must be a shepherd caring for people with love, grace and mercy. But they are also called to take a stand against those who negatively disturb the community around them whether that be in the workplace, community and here … the church.

“For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1 v 10-16)

If Paul told Titus there were many who would not submit to authority then we should expect this in our times and not be surprised when we see it.

So what does Paul tell Titus and therefore ourselves? It is a list that is a help to every leader but also helps us to appreciate those who lead us.

  1. Have a realistic perspective. Don’t look only at those who are following but keep your eyes on who are not with you. There are ‘many’. They have a different gospel, vision and belief system than what you are proclaiming.
  2. Have a plan. Know how you will ‘silence’ their voice. This doesn’t mean you will be unkind or use violence (could be a temptation!) but that you will have a plan to know how to refute their rebelliousness. For Titus it was to train leaders to use the gospel to silence those in the circumcision camp.
  3. Don’t delay. ‘Rebuke them sharply’ is not to destroy the person but the deception. The end goal is solid Christians who hold firmly to the faith. Titus had to ‘get on with it right away’ (Message). Some things are not for discussion or empathy. You don’t always have to get in the other person’s shoes. Stay in your own shoes because they are the correct ones to wear. A dithering church always gives more ground to the destroyer of the church.
  4. Don’t be fooled. Anyone can claim anything even to know God. Claims and actions can be very different. A good leader who is deceived will not see the bad. A good leader who is not fooled easily isn’t necessarily a cynical leader though it may feel like that.
  5. Change the culture. Paul quotes Epimenides, a Cretan prophetic poet from the sixth century BC. Prophetic not in the sense of being divine but nevertheless a well-known not only to Paul, Titus but the whole island. He accused his own people of being ‘liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons’ as they claimed that they had the tomb of Zeus, the master of the gods who he believed lived for ever. Paul was saying to Titus: “this is why we came here in the first place; to turn a lying, evil, lazy culture into the culture of the kingdom by the power of Christ. That is the goal. That is why Titus you are there. That is why you must raise leaders for the churches.” And this is the goal of every leader here 2,000 years later.

Pray for your leader as they take their stand for the gospel and for truth in the context that God has appointed them to. It is not easy and they need your support.

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We have to start to focus on character and not gifting.

Paul had left a mission unfinished. But he left his spiritual son behind to complete the task. A mission which does not lead to an established is unfinished. An established church plant that has no leadership is unfinished. Titus knows his task. He is to find leaders for every church in every town they had established the church. He is to find them, appoint them and this letter will help him to equip them.

This is a wonderful letter from Paul that can probably be broken into 3 categories: organising the church, the belief of the church and the lifestyle of the church. The use of the word elder in v6 and then overseer in v7 is the same position. Every church today has different titles for their leaders who operate at different levels of authority within the community of believers. This letter is for them all and for the whole church for that matter.

“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7 Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1 v 5-9)

The task is still the same for us today. We need to find leaders. We must appoint them into positions and even take risks with them making sure we do all we can to equip them. The question is how do we do that? What do we look for? How do we appoint? What are the important things we need to teach them? All my ministerial life I have been taught that character is above gifting. We all know what that means. Yet here I am having certainly entered the second half of my life and I constantly see the search, appointments and leadership training being focused on abilities, skills and gifting. There is an assumption that those character issues have been sorted in a discipleship course attended years ago. We ignore to our peril that satan never attacks the gifting but always the character. It is staggering to think that we still are so focused on whether we can do and not whether we can be.

The attacks come and they are real and they attack these 5 areas of our lives. This is not only for leaders but because they have responsibility to care and lead the church then if they can bring a leader down the enemy has access into the church.

The leader will be attacked in who they are: v6 … blameless, v7 … blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not violent, v8 … self-controlled, holy.

The leader’s family will be attacked: v6 … faithful to his wife, whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

The leader will be attacked by temptations in their social life: v7 …not given to drunkenness, v8 …must be hospitable.

The leader will be attacked financially: v7 …manages God’s household, not pursuing dishonest gain.

The leader’s work will be attacked: v8 … one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. v9 … hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

These 5 areas are where the leader will be attacked. Our search, appointment and equipping needs to be focused more on these and not the offices, gifts, abilities and skills. If the enemy can bring us down through our character then he has removed those things that we have often thought is of most importance.

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Why are Churches old?

Titus is in Crete (1:5), an island which was not easy to live on as a follower of Jesus. But he was there as a light in the darkness. Paul had left him there to complete the work. He writes to encourage him to do so.

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour, 4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” (Titus 1 v 1-5)

Paul was a Jew and Titus was a Gentile and yet the common faith meant that the Gentile was the true son of the Jew. He writes to his son but he knows this letter will be read to the churches in Crete and so he lays down his credentials in the opening of the letter: a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ and preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.

Here he is his true son, Paul has at least another spiritual son, Timothy. But in the letters of Corinthians Paul describes him in other ways:-

My brother in 2 Corinthians 2:13 and my partner and co-worker in 2 Corinthians 8:23.

Paul’s visit to Crete is not mentioned by Luke in the book of Acts and so presumably his mission took place after his first imprisonment in Rome and after Luke had written his account to Theophilus. The task for Titus was to appoint elders/leaders for the churches that had been established in the mission of Paul.

The Church in 2024 needs more spiritual fathers (and mothers) who have spiritual sons (and daughters) but not that they lord it over them or suppress them, restricting them from fulfilling the call of God on their life. But these relationships should be seen also as brother (and sister), true family and even more than that, partners and co-workers. How can Titus a spiritual son be a partner and a co-worker of the Apostle Paul? Only if Paul understood the economics of God. The Church that has held back the younger generation and not released them to levels of authority looks around and wonders where that generation has gone to. The spiritual fathers and mothers who have acted with weak, immature and controlling parenting skills now have no one to pass the baton on to. The Church that is old and dying is the church that rejected its young.

I am excited going into this letter sent to a spiritual son and a brother, partner and co-worker, to someone who was given authority to lead when the spiritual father left him to do so.

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Peace is here

Every morning that you wake PEACE is right there waiting for you.

Some will wake today after experiencing a deep loss … but they wake with the Lord of peace.

Some will be afraid to go into work for all kinds of reasons … but they go with the Lord of peace.

Some are expecting a phone call or a letter that will determine their next chapter of life … yes, you understand what I am saying. The Lord is peace is with you every moment of the day. So when someone is praying for peace to be with you it isn’t because peace isn’t there but it is so that you will know He is.

It has to be the greatest prayer.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3 v 16-18)

Now …. I don’t think I will be seeing you again.

Now …. After all I have said to you there is just one more important point to make.

Now …. I need to pray for you again.

Now …. This is probably the most important thing.

He is your Peace.

John 14 v27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

It is a peace that remains. It doesn’t change or die because of the circumstance.

At all times and in every way. It doesn’t matter what circumstances you are in today or tomorrow this prayer is for peace that flows continuously from the Lord to you.

This prayer is that you will recognise that no matter what you are going through the Lord of peace has set up home in your life.

Oh and this is Paul himself. His letter was transcribed. But he is putting his name to it. This is personal. This is from his own heart… and hand!

The final word and the final blog on Thessalonians and its peace, the Lord is peace and its grace. Peace and Grace are here with you now.

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Tough love

There has been a push-back against these words over the years and rightly so. Tough love has a no-nonsense and no-negotiation approach whilst still proclaiming this is done in love. The challenge has been because some have taken this to the borders of abuse damaging relationships etc. It is a fine line and one that some fail in their crossing of it. Yet softness doesn’t seem to work either.

Paul is closing down his letter. See how strongly he feels about what he has written.

“Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.” (2 Thessalonians 3 v 14-15)

Strong words aren’t they?

But the intention is not for exclusivity in itself but to bring back the disobedient believer. This is not for the sins of murder or immorality etc. It is for those who are not complying with Paul’s command to work hard. What he means I think is don’t let them keep borrowing with no intention to repay, don’t let them carry on sponging. But do explain that enough is enough and that it is them who needs to change.

The devil never warns us. He wants us to fail. He will never come alongside and say if you don’t do what you are reading in the Bible (ie Paul’s letter) it is all going to go wrong for you. It is the Church that is commanded to warn. But if we don’t then who is going to do it? No one and every one will live as they seem fit. When we warn, don’t do it as if they’re an enemy, someone you don’t like, but as a loved brother or sister in Christ who you want the very best for.

Who are you in relationship with today that God is calling you to warn? Tread carefully, pray for wisdom, but don’t miss any opportunity God may give.

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Keep doing good

If your life is all about comparing yourself with others then disappointment is never far away. People will disappoint you. But keep your eyes on Jesus and keep on doing good.

“We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.” (2 Thessalonians 3 v 11-13)

Around your life and they may be Christians you will see:-

  • The idle
  • Those who disrupt.
  • Those who look busy but who are not really doing anything worthwhile.

Though Paul commands them to stop being like this he brings an encouragement to those who are not like that.

When you are working hard and see lazy people it can be disheartening. When you see those who are not uniting or loving but they’re just causing problems wherever they go, it can be easy to say I don’t want to do this anymore. It is easy to abandon the work when others are ruining it. When you are living a life of integrity and you see others looking like they’re the real deal and working hard and speaking the right things but it is all pone charade then it is understandable that you wonder what is the point of it all?

Paul has an instruction, don’t tire from doing what is good. Don’t give up. Don’t back down. Don’t let other people who are ruining their own race ruin yours.

If some abuse your generosity that doesn’t mean you have to stop giving to others.

If some have verbal diarrhoea and arrogantly talk about themselves all the time that doesn’t mean you stop talking and telling of what God has done for you.

You will get tired but that is not the reason for giving up what you know is good.

You will sacrifice but that is not the reason to give up and it will be worth it when you see the success of God in your life.

You will get people’s backlash and words will be spoken against you but that is not the reason to stop doing good, look how others have and are suffering for the same thing.

You will have defeats, failures and disappointments but that is not the reason to stop doing good. That is life.

You may not get a reward for all your effort on earth but do not give up because there is a reward in heaven.

Keep your eyes off others especially the lazy, deceiving, disruptive people and keep doing what you are doing, keep to the good path.

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Work hard!

Some people may not like what I feel these verses are saying:-

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”” (2 Thessalonians 3 v 6-10)

The Message gives a helpful line: “Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest.”

Here is a key to life: work hard!

The New Testament leader who moved in the power of the Spirit, the chief church planter, operating in the Spirit seeing signs, wonders and many miracles and we are told:-

  • He paid for his own food from the work that he had done.
  • He worked night shifts.
  • He worked day shifts.
  • He laboured.
  • He toiled
  • He was not a burden to anyone.

If that is the main apostle then surely every one of us need to pay attention.

Some people are part time with things that need full time attention.

If you only work half-heartedly then your results will show it.

Some travel the world to find the strategies for success or to receive some special anointing to bring about remarkable results which only come through sheer hard work.

Some people are praying for a move of God when actually a move of God’s people is needed. Why should God work when His people are lazy?

If a worker deserves his wages (1 Tim 5:18) then sadly perhaps we should be saving more money in Christian ministries?

Why should we be talking about rest and taking a Sabbath when work is in decline?

Those who don’t see what they long to see have most probably stopped working for what they saw a long time ago.

Some retire though they were never tired because they never put a shift in.

Maybe today some people are just one day of work away from their breakthrough but they have decided not to show up.

Let’s work.

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Sometimes we just have to leave things with the Lord.

“We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3 v 4-5)

Paul was not confident in the Thessalonians. But he was definitely confident in the Lord. After all his teaching and now these 2 letters he has sent them he says his confidence is in God. He doesn’t know how they will respond without God. It is true that without God we are nothing. If these Thessalonians are going to continue to follow Jesus it won’t be because of how good they are. It would be because of God. Of course it is a partnership. God cannot break our free will to follow Him or not. But ultimately everything is because of Him.

So he prays. It’s all about prayer isn’t it?

Actually it is all about whether God will decide to move upon His people.

Don’t we just want that for our nation? “God direct the hearts of people back to you!”

The result is they will love like God does and they will live in the steadfastness of Christ. It’s not sympathy we need at times, not even a listening ear … We need someone to say don’t give up! What are you facing? Hold on! I am praying for you!

People never just give up. They gave up behind the smiles and laughter a long time ago. No matter how resilient you are if you are not continually being empowered by Christ then you will fade.

I’m not thinking you need to ‘pull your socks up’ or to ‘keep smiling’ under duress. But rather have a conquering patience with anything that life can throw at you knowing that the Lord will direct your heart into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

Whether your friend makes it though isn’t in the end your responsibility. I gave up that burden a while ago. There were moments when I thought I wanted a certain friend to follow Jesus more than they did! Sometimes we just have to leave things with the Lord.