If God is All About Godliness, Is Doing Good Good Enough for God?

This morning, our men's study launched into a 3-week study of the book of Titus.  Man, I could stretch this into a 3-MONTH study - some great stuff!

One thing that is noticeable in the entire letter to Titus is that Paul uses at least 8x an expression about "doing good."  (1.8, 1.16, 2.3, 2.7, 2.14, 3.1, 3.8, 3.14)  That is 1 in every 7 verses talks about "doing good."

If God is all about godliness, is doing good good enough for God?

In the first chapter, the "doing good" passages contrast with one another.  In 1.16, it is in reference to the home-ruiners who say they know God but "by their actions deny him" (1.16).  They are "unfit for doing anything good."   On the other hand, an overseer is described as "hospitable, one who loves what is good . . ." As this morning's study suggested, while this is often used as a list of qualifications for elders, shouldn't this list in Titus 1 ("blameless" "self-controlled" "upright" "holy" . . .) be what we all strive for?

When you look at the 8 mentions of "doing good" in this brief letter (the Book of Titus only has 46 verses total!), one can begin to wonder if "doing good" is the pursuit of most Christians.  But if we pervert its intention, are we missing the point?  What if we don't do enough good?  Will it be good enough to please God?

The next few chapters may help us, or may worry us.  2.14 says that because of grace and hope, we will be "eager to do what is good."  3.1 says we should be "ready to do whatever is good."  And 3.8 and 3.14 says we must "learn to devote (our)selves to doing what is good."  You can look at these in two ways:

1. Doing good because that's what "do-gooders" are supposed to do
2. Doing good because it is the fruit of godliness in our lives

Fortunately, 3.5 tells us exactly what our answer is.

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."

We do what is good in response to God's mercy, grace and love.  Not to earn his favor, but because grace bears fruit.  If you are not bearing fruit, you have not received true grace. Do good not to be saved but because you are.

As Paul continues, we are reminded that we are saved by grace through the rebirth we have in Christ and the renewal by the Holy Spirit.  It is not that we are in ANY WAY saved because of the good we may have done.  Nor is it based on how much good we might do tomorrow (we can't "pay it forward").  What about those who have done far more evil than good?  There is an equal implication that a LACK of doing good cannot keep us from being saved either!

There's nothing you can do that will keep God from loving and saving your soul.  There's nothing good that you can do to earn it.  Trust in his mercy!

-Randy

A Celebration of 20 Years in Benin, West Africa

* written 2 weeks ago while in Africa *
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I am writing this post from Aplahoue, Benin.  A rural village in the southwest corner of this developing country in West Africa, this was also our home base for almost 10 years during our church planting missionary work.  Each opportunity that I have to return (this marks my 3rd visit since moving back Stateside), I am reminded of God’s faithfulness during our time here.  This is a small place, so I can literally recount stories, experiences, happenings and memories from just about every corner of this place.   My long-term colleague in this work, Greg Bailey, has made the same trip back the past 3 years.  We return to visit with church leaders, encouraging them in the Scriptures.  In a vastly non-literate society, teaching oral learners alongside a few learned in the written Word is a complex mission.  These leaders are very young in the faith and very limited in their knowledge of the Word.  This trip we are focusing on how to not only study the Scriptures (whether literate or not) but also how to share it with others through obedience and generosity.  Hebrews 1:22 says that we are not only to “hear the Word” but we must do what it says!  Today we ended our leadership workshop with all 20 participants reciting that verse in unison.


In talking with Greg, it was also good to reflect not only immediate ups and downs of this work.  It’s easy to concentrate on weaknesses of the movement, limitations of certain people, or backsliding of specific past leaders.  As we were talking, I was reminded that although our family first joined this mission in 1996, Greg and his family first started praying about this specific work in 1992.  Not at all to dismiss all that God was doing before that, it was stunning to realize that we are soon approaching a 20-year anniversary of our families’ participation in this story (15 for my wife and immediate family, but we celebrate as a team).  Congregations and leaders have fallen away, but new ones have emerged.  So while the peaks and valleys of today encourage and discourage, it is God’s faithfulness throughout the entire story that propels to commit further to seeing the Kingdom advance here.  20 years!  Thank you for friends like you who have prayed with us and given generously so our family’s work during these two decades could be sustained.

-Randy

10 Observations About International Flying

Just returned from a 2-week trip to Benin, West Africa.  A great trip - over the next few weeks (or months), I will share insights and experiences from this journey.  Here's some of my observations about flying internationally:

1. There are simply not enough charging station kiosks in airports.  Found good amount at DFW's terminal, but in Chicago, forget it!  The charging station kiosk was 200 yards from the gate and there were 4 outlets for about 4000 interested people.  And no seating, so you just stood there waiting for your phone to charge.  In Paris, nothing.  In Benin, West Africa, I was fine, because their power grid is so jittery I didn't care to plug in my phone to their electricity.  But very disappointed at Paris, Washington Dulles, and O'Hare.   Speaking of charging, would we not at least have the ability to charge our phones while on the plane, even if we can't use them (I'm talking on flights where you cannot use them yet).  Be nice to have charging systems right next to where you plug your headphones into especially on a 4-hour or 8-hour plane ride.
2. Call me from the sticks, but thought the automatic toilet seat covers at O'Hare were pretty snazzy - some guy actually shows it on YouTube 
3. The United "Extra Legroom" offer is worth it.  It's only 5 inches more, but the best is when the guy in front of you decides to lay his seat back all the way for an annoying 3 hour nap, it's not near as inconventient on your tray table.  
4. It should be against the law in Coach Class to recline your seat as far as some people do.  I do not understand how that person doesn't even think about the inconvenience he is placing on the passenger behind him.  Would you do this to your friends in carpool on your way to work?    
5. People watching is incredibly fun - especially an in international terminal or in an airport overseas.  It's fun to spot the inexperienced American tourist heading for their first European family vacation.  Just good comedy.
6. European perfume ads are downright inappropriate for a public venue like an international airport - call me a prude but why do naked mothers with babies all around them sell how you smell?
7. It's a shame that the de-boarding system can't be done by priority order - those with the earliest connecting flights are called off first, then followed by those with connections 4 hours later followed by the ones who have reached their final destination.  Seems fair and democratic to me and might result in fewer missed connections (and less pushing once inside the terminal).   Also, they board the elderly and those with small children first, why not let them deboard first?  After a long 8-hour flight the family I was sitting next to me from Paris to Washington had more squabbles while we were just sitting at the gate waiting to de-board.
8. I wish airports could offer the technology that could text you when you were 10 minutes from actual boarding.  This would alleviate the stressed-out crowd at the gates, notably where there delays and when the airline is backed up because of previous cancellations.  Just let me get out of that crowd, go down to a nice restaurant and wait on my flight rather than sitting on the floor in the overcrowded gate area (with no charging station for my iPhone!)  
9. Every airport, especially international hubs like Paris' Charles-de-Gualle, should offer sleeping rooms for weary travelers
10. It's truly a miracle to me that I can sit inside a well-designed contraption of several tons of metal and we fly over the Atlantic Ocean because of some real trust-worthy engines.  It's amazing we do this.  Beats the 3-month boat voyage!

-Randy