(S)

1 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 Savior,

⁴ To Titus, my true son in our common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Appointing Elders Who Love What Is Good

⁵ The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint^[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. ⁶ An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe^[b] 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.

Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

¹⁰ 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.”^[c] 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.

(O)

Paul leaves Titus in Crete to take charge of the work there and continue what has been started. Paul is calling Titus to stand up and be courageous. There is false teaching and lying going on and Titus is being challenged, as the leader, to stand up to it and call it for what it is. And it needs to happen fast before the lies spread any further. This will be tough for Titus, because the success or failure of this falls on his shoulders. As the leader, there is no one else to defer this responsibility to.

In our workplaces, our homes and our churches, as the leaders we need to be aware of lies and falsehoods being taught. But it is a tough thing to confront someone because we don’t want to upset them, offend them or leave, especially in the church. However, it doesn’t do anyone any good to skirt around the issue, and it is best addressed directly and immediately. This can be very emotionally draining and discouraging to the leader.

(A)

Encourage your leaders today. Whether that be your boss, your parents, your team leader, your pastor or the church elders, give them a note of encouragement today. Tell them you are praying for them. Or even better, actually call or visit them, and pray for them.

(P)

Lord, how can I encourage my leader(s) today? Give me words of life to speak into each of their lives today. In Jesus name, amen.

(S)

4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Personal Remarks

⁹ Do your best to come to me quickly, ¹⁰ for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹ Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. ¹² I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. ¹³ When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.

¹⁴ Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. ¹⁵ You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

¹⁶ At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. ¹⁷ But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸ The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

¹⁹ Greet Priscilla^[a] and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus. ²⁰ Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus. ²¹ Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers and sisters.^[b]

²² The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you all.

(O)

Paul the encourager. He knows Timothy is young and is facing much opposition. But he gives him words to strengthen him, and at the same time very straightforward instruction.

Paul seems to feel his life is very short at this point. He is obviously taking some tremendous physical abuse. The verse that always makes me wonder is vs. 14 where he mentions that Alexander the metalworker did him a great deal of harm. I picture a big strong man, and being a metal worker, having all kinds of items that could be used to hurt you. But it seems that during these bad times, his support abandon him. He was alone, and I think this is why it was very important to him to encourage Timothy, to make sure he knew that he was not alone. And to ensure he knew that God was at his side at all times and would help him through these tough situations.

(A)

All around us are people that are struggling with something. Maybe they feel alone, or afraid. Maybe they are struggling with life, addictions, anxiety, depression, conflict, family, finances or any of a multitude of things. If you know someone like that, encourage them today that they are not alone. Sit with them, listen to them, encourage them. And remind them God is always by their side.

(P)

Ask God who needs encouragement today.

(S)

3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷ always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. ⁹ But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

A Final Charge to Timothy

¹⁰ You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. ¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(O)

If you read the first few verses, it’s easy to see how society today could fit right into that description. Looking around the world, watching the news, and even in our own towns, we can see every one of those things playing out. There are many who have turned away from God and it’s all about “me”. Paul writes these things will happen in the last days. Are we in the last days? I’m not sure, we might be, but I suspect that every generation since Jesus probably could compare what was going on around them to those verses and think that this must be the end.

What I think is much more important in this chapter, and one of my favorite verses, is vs 16. I believe this is one of those critical verses that we must understand and believe, especially the first few words. “all scripture is God-breathed” or some versions say “God-inspired”. The whole bible hinges on these words. What I mean be this is if we don’t fully believe that the words in the bible are straight from God (written by human authors) through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the bible becomes a very useless book. Essentially, it would be a book of human opinion or interpretation. And we know that we are all flawed and have all made mistakes. It is critical we understand that when we say “God’s Word”, it is actually meant quite literally.

(A)

Meditate on that thought today. Study and memorize vs. 16. And this goes hand in hand with what we talked about yesterday as vs 17 tells us why the Word of God is so important to know. “so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but we need to know the Word. Read it, study it.

(P)

Father I thank you for your Word that came from your own mouth. Thank you for the people you chose to write down those words so we could so easily access them today. God help us all to understand it, and give us a sense of urgency to read it and know it. God bless each one reading this today. amen.

The Appeal Renewed

2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. ³ Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. ⁵ Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. ⁶ The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. ⁷ Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, ⁹ for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. ¹⁰ Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹ Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.

Dealing With False Teachers

¹⁴ Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ¹⁶ Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. ¹⁷ Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

²⁰ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. ²¹ Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

²² Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. ²⁴ And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. ²⁵ Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

(O)

There are certain verses in the bible that, to me, just prove the authenticity of Christianity. Verse 15 is one of them, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

The gospel message is one of forgiveness and grace. What other religion would say “do your best”? The bible tells us we are not perfect and are sinful. In the law, you had to be perfect, but in this time of grace, we are to do our best. very different and very hard for some people to take, especially those who either don’t know the gospel or are very self righteous with their knowledge of the Word. But the phrase “do your best” also implies we need to put in effort. It’s something to strive for. if we look at the next 3 words, “to present yourself”, we will stand before God to give account for our actions and words. i don’t know about you, but I want to have God’s approval. And not just because I accepted Christs forgiveness, but because I honestly desire to do what is right.

(A)

The verse gives us some clues on how to do this. It says we need to “correctly handle the word of truth”. By doing this we will not be ashamed and will be approved. And how else can we correctly handle the Word of truth? Study it, read it, talk about it, pray for understanding, ask others to help explain it, and all the while live it out each day. At least, do your best.

(P)

Ask God for understanding for areas you are not sure about in His Word. Pray for a desire to really know what His word says and how to use it. Ask Him to help you do your best each day.