In Paul’s introduction to Titus, he is saying much more than what is said. In just a few sentences, he communicates three key messages about his ministry.
First, his ministry is entirely in hope of eternal life. This is a confident hope, not a a faint hope or a wish.
Second, Paul is a servant of God. Usually, he introduces himself as a “servant of Christ” but here he calls back to the ministry of Moses, the servant of God. He is sent with a mission from God through Jesus Christ, who transformed Paul from an enemy into the Apostle to the gentiles.
Third, Paul brings a message from God, who never lies. This is in sharp contrast between the behavior of both humans (“all Cretans are liars”) and gods. This means our faith is founded on the most solid thing of could be. This truth transforms us, and Paul’s role is to bring the knowledge of that truth to God’s elect, wherever and whoever they may be.
In Acts 26, Paul is presented to be judged by the Roman official Agrippa. In that interaction, though, Paul recounts how he came up be preaching the gospel, and what that gospel is: “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
How are you growing in the knowledge of the truth? Sometimes we make this pursuit all about knowledge of the Bible, rather than knowledge of the truth – the Bible is vital, but unless we understand how the truth of the Bible intersects with our lives specifically, then we don’t really know “the truth which accords with godliness.”
Many of us would put a period in the middle of verse 1, “for the sake of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth.” But Paul goes on, because unless the truth accords with godliness, unless it transforms us and our behavior, then either it isn’t the truth to begin with, or it has not been truly received.
Christ offers a true hope of eternal life. It is a greater hope than offered by anything people put their faith in, whether health, or science, or some form of mysticism. It is our role to pass on that hope to those around us, both through our transformed behavior and through our words.
– Sermon Notes, Mahlon Friesen, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, September 29, 2019