Titus 2:11-15: Our Eternity Is Our Statement About God

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. - Titus 2:11-15

God is creating a new people out of all people. He offers all people a chance to be a part of the new people. But the catch is that you have to love his son more than "ungodliness and worldly passions" Eternity isn't for the people who won't enjoy spending it with God because they've already stated by their lives that they don't want the type of person Jesus is and won't like it if they become like him.  Eternity is for those who want to be like him and are "eager to do what is good"

"Offer" means that it is sitting on the table waiting for us to take it. But to say "yes" and take that offer means saying "no" to a lot of other choices. Like marriage. 

Titus 2:10b: Firmware Just Boots and That's OK

...so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. - Titus 2:10b 

My job is to write firmware. This software is attached to the motherboard of about 200 different new models of PCs. Those new PCs are used by millions of computer users each year to do their jobs, play their games,  write their e-mails, create their PowerPoint slides, etc. That software comes from over 2 million lines of source code. But my daughter, when asked if she wanted to do the type of job that I do, said that she didn't because all we get to say when our product works is: it boots. 

In fact, you don't want to see our product, called BIOS. If you see our product it usually means that something has gone wrong: the computer's hardware has failed, the firmware has been corrupted, etc. Now, I am quite proud of the craft that goes into our firmware. Well-written code is an art and I and my colleagues have spent years writing and fine-tuning the code. But the highest complement that you can pay to our art is that you don't see it. It seamlessly creates the environment where Windows or macOS can load so that other people can be productive. If it draws attention to itself, it is failing. 

A lot of what goes into church work is like that. The end result should always be for someone else's growth and God's glory. If a worship team or a pastor makes you leave the service thinking, "What a great guitarist that worship band has!" or "What a great guy that speaker is!" it is a fail, because the goal of the worship service is in the changed lives of the congregants and the glorification of the God who inspired it all. 

A lot of what goes into life is like that. The end result should always be for someone else's growth and God's glory. When I draw attention to myself--when everyone leaves thinking, "What a smart and compassionate guy Tim is!"-it is a fail because the goal of life is the changed lives of others and the glorification of the God who inspired it all.

It would be like an art gallery where the painting was ignored and the picture frames became the star of the exhibition. Our lives frame the love and goodness of God and the changed lives he brings, bringing those into clear focus. Those frames can be well crafted, sturdy and artful but they are never the point.

Titus 2:10: Serving the Next

My job provides an environment that helps others thrive. We make software-software that other engineers customize to make their computer motherboards work. People use those computers to a million different things. It isn't fancy--if we're successful, you don't even know that our software exists. It just works. Software is like this--it isn't a glory job. I've often compared it to solving crossword puzzles--mentally stimulating but not terribly important in the grand scheme of things (see here).

I like to think that I write beautiful code. Elegant, even. Not just me: there is a book called Beautiful Code, but the audience for that beauty is limited. Much like one painter admiring the technique of another--brush strokes, color palette, use of materials. Or one pianist marveling at the fingering of a difficult passage of Chopin. Or a craftsman appreciating the joins on a piece of fine furniture. God is genius. There is nothing I invent or discover in software that will surprise him. Instead, he delights in my seeking out of the beauty he placed in creation--even in software--before the foundations of the world.

The best art highlights truth and multiplies impact. The art is not the truth itself. Rather it is a sort of truth wrapper, by which truth is emphasized and delivered. Church architecture can lift the gaze heavenward, teach the core stories of the faith, carry the voice of the teacher and singer and encourage community. Well-designed cars convey speed or stability or prestige while enabling speedy or comfortable travel.

Likewise, the best software highlights truth and multiplies impact. Consider the average auditorium: the air is processed by software, the sound is processed by software, the visuals are provided by software. You don't (and should not) marvel at the quality of the picture reproduction, the comfort level of the room's temperature and humidity or the fidelity of the audio (unless you are the production engineer). Rather, these are environmental wrappers for the message being delivered by the speaker giving the speech.

Sometimes it is hard to see the beauty because there is no direct line of sight between what you create and what is eventually created by someone else. It's hard to see the Ferrari when you build the fuel filter. It's hard to see the supercomputer when all you write (as I do) code on a chip that takes less than a square centimeter, holds less than 1 megabyte (1000th of a gigabyte) and costs less than 25 cents. But there is a different type of beauty that God has shown me: not just the beauty of the finished product, but the beauty of serving the next.

Serving the next is saying: "How can what I make better serve the next person who uses it?" and "How can what I do better serve the next person who experiences it?" I don't know many of the engineers who use my code. But I do know that I can serve them by making my code easier to use, more robust and simpler to use. They may never notice what I did any more than you noticed how clean the bathroom was in the last hotel room you stayed in. But it is still beautiful. It is still praising God. I am creating an environment where in some little way, another person can thrive.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. - Colossians 3:23-24

We must be careful because we can twist this out of mixed motives. One way this gets distorted is watching outcomes or calculating return on investment. That is, we often improve what we do so that people will pay us more money or look on us more favorably or judge whether the effort is worth it. As Jesus said, "And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that." (Luke 6:33)

In creating beauty through serving we are reaping the real benefit and creating the real beauty: the inner life transformed by God "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)

"But...I need that outcome." Like a salary. Or sleep. Sure. We depend on others who, in turn, serve us--whether it is our company, our customers, our families or our friends. But our paychecks come from God and he has called for lives "so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:10b)