Titus

Sidenote: I have a brother-in-law named Titus. Every time I read this book I pray for him. It’s good practice.

The Apostle Paul mentions Titus 9x in the book of 2 Corinthians. That gives you an idea of how much Paul liked this guy and how much work they did together.

In this letter to Titus, Paul reminds him that his testimony and the church’s testimony would be their best witness in the land of liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Also helping their witness would be their response to those in government and authority. If Paul was writing to a pastor in America, I think he would say the exact same things. Ironically, these two areas seem to be where Christians in America fall the most. They either get caught up in sin, looking just like the world, or they criticize the government and show disrespect toward leaders.

May God give us more men like those in 1:6-9. I sure hope for more 2:7 pastors too.

Throughout the letter we see key words and phrases like, “self-control” and “devote yourselves to good works.” Surely these things were repeated for a reason. Paul knew how necessary self-control and good works were for the Gospel to thrive in a place like Crete. Again, same for us.

Overall, the letter is short and sweet, but full of good nuggets. Sermons could be crafted from anywhere, just like the ESV Study Bible gives one on effective evangelism from Titus 3:1-11. Someday, I hope I too can craft a sermon from this letter.

Obadiah

There are only a handful of one chapter books in the Bible. Obadiah is one of them.

When the book is so short, it’s tough to find much to write about. So, I’ll provide a summary and thoughts on one specific idea.

In a nutshell, Obadiah’s prophecy is about curses and blessings.

  • Curses on Edom via God’s judgment.
  • Curses on the nations at large via God’s judgment.
  • Blessings on Israel via God’s restoration.

Why is Edom judged? Two reasons: 1) For not helping their brother out, aka standing aloof. 2) For pride.

Its easy to point the finger at the nation of Edom and say, “Man, you guys suck.”

But it is much harder to ask the person in the mirror, “How many times have you seen someone in need and not taken action to help? How often have you been in too much of a hurry, or justified not stopping to help someone in need?”

And what if you ask yourself the pride question, “How many times have I looked down on someone else for any number of reasons? How many times have I thought I was a bigger deal than I actually am? How many times have I thought of myself first, at the expense of others?”

It’s painful. Trust me, I get it. Self-reflection is tough.

But don’t let it end there. Don’t stop at beating up yourself (or Edom).

The book ends with a vision of the end, saying “The Kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” Now that’s good stuff. I look forward to that day. He’ll set things right.

Interesting random side-note: The first nine verses of Obadiah can be found in Jeremiah 49:7-22.

**Originally published in April 2013. Updated in November 2021.**

3 John

This is one of those rare personal letters that made it into the canon of Scripture. If I’m not mistaken, I think there are only 4 others, all written by Paul (1&2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon).

As for this letter, the short hand moral lesson would read: Be like Gaius and Demetrius, not Diotrephes.

The last tidbit I would add is that John ends his 2nd and 3rd epistles with remarks about not wanting to write much more. Rather, he wants to see the people face to face. I think that’s important. Don’t let the medium of text get in the way of face-to-face relationships.

1 John

1John chartBack to the basics. That’s what 1 John is all about. Simple sentences, always building on the previous thought.

Here’s my summary of John’s letter:

The diagram above, keep it simple, abide in Him, love others, He is true, don’t be deceived, the world is passing away, if you know God don’t practice sin, God hears our prayers, we have life, we will overcome the world.

Good letter. Great reminders. K.I.S.S.

Jude

I have a Warren Wiersbe type of outline here. All begin with “P”:

  • Purpose: He appeals to us believers to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
  • Problem: A group of unnoticed, ungodly people had crept in the Christian circles and perverted grace into sensuality. That is, they began accepting gross immorality, presumptuously thinking that God would forgive them even as they continued practicing their sin.
  • Profile of an Apostate:
    1. destined to condemnation
    2. ungodly
    3. perverts grace
    4. licenses immorality
    5. denies Christ as the only sovereign Lord
    6. is a dreamer
    7. pollutes their body
    8. rejects authority
    9. blasphemes angels
    10. blasphemes what they don’t understand
    11. is without reason
    12. is destroyed by their own instincts
    13. is a grumbler
    14. is malcontent
    15. follows sinful desires
    16. is a loud-mouthed boaster
    17. plays favorites for their gain
    18. scoffs
    19. causes division
    20. is worldly minded
    21. devoid of the Spirit

This list is pretty ugly. Yet, it’s describing people who were / are creeping into the church! God help us!

  • Persevere: The way for us to continue in, contending for the faith is by building ourselves up, praying, endeavoring together in love, waiting for the mercy of Christ. By having mercy on people and saving them from the fire, we will persevere.
  • Praise: verse 24-25

Philemon

Last night I was feeling ambitious, so I read a whole book of the Bible–Philemon. It’s a whopping twenty-five verses. Here’s what I think you should know about it:

Verses 1-7 are a typical opening to Paul’s letters. It is worth noting that this is a personal letter. Only 3 other personal letters can be found in the New Testament Canon. (1&2 Timothy, Titus)

  • The central part of the letter is about how to handle Onesimus. To steal a line from a friend of mine, it’s about forgiven sinners learning to forgive sin. That is, for forgiveness to be genuine, it has to pass through us, not just come to us. See, forgiveness comes with a divine redundancy. That’s what my friend says. And that’s what Paul is saying in this letter to Philemon. Treat Onesimus right, forgive him, accept him, build a newfound Christ-centered relationship with him.

In verse 21-22 Paul tells Philemon to prepare to receive him. The last three verses include some closing greetings.

And that’s all folks.