The Good Works Army

The Good Works Army
Titus 3:1-15
INTRODUCTION… Christians are known for (www.orcmagazine.com)
If you were to Google the phrase “Christians are known for” what do you think the results would be? What are people who call themselves followers of Christ known for… whether good or bad?
The following are some of the results you would find:
… being trustworthy and honest and having high levels of integrity
… building governments based on fairness
… respect for others and tolerance
… their intolerance of non-Christians and other religions
… their high level of integrity, their moral character
… their homophobic views toward anything remotely gay
… their gratitude and thankfulness
… their hatred, not the good and love they claim to practice
… what they are against, not what they are for
… denying birth control to families in the so called ‘third world', resulting in hungry, unwanted babies … replacing science with superstitions in the schools
… looking for trouble in the hopes of controlling others
… their love of others and towards God
If you think about that list you will see some things that are quite contradictory. You will see items that are fortunately true, unfortunately true, and items that are false. What I hope you see is that the simple question of: “what are Christians known for” is not an easy question to answer.
So I wondered if this had always been the case. What about the first Christians? How did they let people know about their faith and their identity in Christ? Our answer actually comes from a non-Christian source.
ILLUSTRATION… Emperor Julian on Christians (www.onenewsnow.com)
In the earliest days of Christianity, the Roman emperor Julian was contemptuous of Jesus' first followers. But he recognized that their generosity to the poor was making converts of many. He is quoted as saying: “Nothing has contributed to the progress of the superstition of the Christians as their charity to strangers...the impious Galileans provide not only for their own poor, but for ours as well.”
This makes sense. The Bible in the Old Testament is pretty clear about providing for the poor and focusing on those in need. Deuteronomy 10:17-18 says, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” And from Psalm 146:7-9: “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.” Many other passages in the Old Testament describe God in the same manner so we get the feeling that we should care about those who need help because God does.
What does the New Testament say? What was Jesus’ example? Jesus was always helping those in need. In fact, in Matthew 11:3-4, Jesus describes what He is doing to John the Baptist’s disciples, “Go back and report to John what you hear