What Makes God Laugh
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)
We don’t often think of God as laughing, but Psalm 2 tells of a special reason why God laughs. Here, God laughs because man thinks he can plot and work against the Almighty with any hope of success. It says in the first few verses of the Psalm:
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3)
God’s response? “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.” God looks at the way man plots against Him and He laughs. God isn’t afraid or confused or depressed about the opposition of man. God laughs at it.
God laughs because He sits in the heavens. He sits as the Great King on a glorious throne. He doesn’t pace back and forth in the throne room of heaven, wondering what He should do next. God sits in perfect peace and assurance. He doesn’t even rise from where He sits; God simply laughs.
God laughs because He sits in the heavens. It isn’t an earthly throne He occupies; it is the throne of heaven with authority over all creation. What does heaven have to fear from earth?
Please notice that God does not laugh at the suffering of humankind, even their suffering as a result of sin. God laughs at the proud man or woman who thinks so highly of themselves that they will fight against God and seek to prevent His will.
Simply said, “The LORD shall hold them in derision.” Through the centuries many have opposed God and His Kingdom in Jesus Christ. Each one of these opponents have been and shall be frustrated and crushed.
An Example of God’s Laugh
A famous opponent of Christianity was the Roman Emperor Diocletian (AD 245-313). He was such a determined enemy of Christians that he persecuted them mercilessly and wanted to believe that he had defeated Christianity. He struck a medal with this inscription: “The name of Christianity being extinguished.”
Diocletian built monuments with inscriptions that said he had “extinguished the name of Christians” and had “abolished the superstition of Christ.”
Diocletian is dead and gone, now only a few paragraphs on the pages of history. The fame and glory of Jesus Christ is spread over all the earth. God laughs from heaven, and the LORD shall hold them in derision. Let this comfort your troubled heart today.
Denke daran, fruchtbar zu sein
Die unseren sollen aber auch lernen, zur Behebung der dringenden Nöte eifrig gute Werke zu tun, damit sie nicht unfruchtbar sind! (Titus 3,14-15)
Die letzten Sätze im Brief des Paulus an Titus nennt uns noch einige Dinge, an die wir denken sollten. Zuerst sehen wir uns das Ziel an: dass Christen nicht unfruchtbar sein sollen. Gott will von uns, dass wir „Frucht bringen“.
Der Gedanke, der hinter „Frucht“ oder unfruchtbar sein steht ist eine poetische Umschreibung dafür, dass ein christliches Leben gute Dinge hervorbringt. Es ist gut, wenn ein Apfelbaum Äpfel hervorbringt, und es ist gut, wenn ein christliches Leben die „Frucht des Geistes“ zeigt wie in Galater 5,22-23 steht: „Die Frucht des Geistes aber ist Liebe, Freude, Friede, Langmut, Freundlichkeit, Güte, Treue, Sanftmut, Selbstbeherrschung.“
Hier sagt Paulus, dass wir nicht unfruchtbar sind, wenn wir eifrig gute Werke tun,und wenn wir dringende Nöte beheben gibt, uns das die Gelegenheit, die Frucht des Geistes zu zeigen. Es ist gut, wenn Christen Gutes tun, und das im Namen Jesu! Wir sollten nicht nur damit anfangen gute Werke zu tun, sondern wir sollten eifrig gute Werke tun, und das immer. Wir sollten nach dringenden Nöten schauen und sie in Jesu Namen beheben.
Dieser wundervolle Brief an Titus ermutigt uns wiederholt Gutes zu tun und damit die Realität unseres Glaubens durch solch gute Werke zu zeigen. Hier sehen wir auch, dass sich die Botschaft von Paulus und die von Jakobus nicht widersprechen, und dass auch Paulus glaubte, dass sich echter Glaube im echten Leben zeigt.
Eine besondere Art von Liebe
Im letzten Vers des Titusbriefs werden wir an die warmherzigen Beziehungen erinnert, die Paulus zu anderen Christen im gesamten Römischen Reich hatte. Er schickte an Titus und all die anderen Christen auf der Insel Kreta Grüße. Achte auf diesen Satz: Grüße diejenigen, die uns lieben im Glauben.
Wir sollten dankbar sein für die Menschen in unseren Leben, die uns im Glauben lieben. Wir erfreuen uns an unserer Verbindung als Brüder und Schwestern in Jesus. Dieser Bund geht tiefer als eine Blutsverwandtschaft, denn er ist im Glauben. Ich möchte all denen danken, die uns im Glauben lieben.
Am Schluss schrieb Paulus: Die Gnade sei mit euch allen. Selbst wenn der Brief an Titus das praktische christliche Leben sehr betont, können wir nur dann so leben, wie Gott es will, wenn wir in Seiner Gnadeleben. Wir sind dankbar für all das, was uns Seine Gnade gibt und lehrt und wir sehnen uns danach, dass diese Gnade mehr und mehr mit uns ist. Empfange durch den Glauben heute und in der kommenden Woche Seine Gnade – und dann tue eifrig gute Dinge.
Good Thoughts, Good Words
We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,
In the midst of Your temple.
(Psalm 48:9)
I think this line from Psalm 48 is a great prayer for a preacher to pray. It’s good for us as Bible preachers and teachers to say, “We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness.”
Lovingkindness here translates the great Hebrew word hesed. The ESV has “steadfast love,” the NASB has “lovingkindness,” and the NLT has “unfailing love.” Maybe it’s best to see it as “loyal love” or “covenant love.”
This is what we as preachers and teachers should think more about: the wonderful, amazing, loyal love of God.
Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on this verse, titled A Worthy Theme for Thought. In the sermon Spurgeon thought of three different people in the church and how they should each think and speak more of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
Spurgeon thought of a sister who thought and spoke all the time about her bodily aches and pains. He said, “suppose you tell your next visitor about the lovingkindness of the Lord to you.”
Spurgeon thought of a brother who was having trouble in business, and always thought and spoke about it. “Well, we know that old story; could you not change your note just a little, and talk about the lovingkindness of the Lord?”
Then he thought of a Christian who complained that there was little love in the church. “Now, henceforward, instead of always harping on the faults and failing of God’s people, — which, certainly, are numerous enough, but have not become any fewer since you talked so much about them; — would it not be better to think and talk of the lovingkindness of the Lord?”
How about us as Bible preachers and teachers? Shouldn’t we pray to think more and speak more about the great love of God? We can be consumed with our worries and comparison and fears; isn’t it better for us to think more and speak more about God’s great love?
He really loves you, and He has called you to be messenger of His love.
Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik
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Remember to be Fruitful
And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. (Titus 3:14-15)
These last sentences from Paul’s letter to Titus give us a few final things to remember. We can first look at the goal: that Christians may not be unfruitful. God wants us to “bear fruit” as believers.
The idea of “fruit” or being unfruitful here is a poetic way to speak of a Christian life that brings forth good things. It’s good for an apple tree to bring forth good apples, and it’s good for a Christian life to show the “fruit of the Spirit” described in Galatians 5:22-23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Here, Paul says we will not be unfruitful if we maintain good works, and if we meet urgent needs, giving us the opportunity to show forth the fruit of the Spirit. It’s good for Christians to do good, and to do good in Jesus’ name! We should not only start doing good works, but we should maintain good works, keep on doing them. We should look for urgent needs and try to meet them in Jesus’ name.
This is another way that the wonderful letter to Titus encourages us to do good and to show the reality of our faith through such good works. We also see another way that the message of Paul and the message of James were not in contradiction, and that Paul also believed that real faith would show in real life.
A Special Kind of Love
In the last verse of Titus, we are reminded of Paul’s warm relationships with Christians all over the Roman Empire. He sent a greeting both to Titus and to the other Christians on the Island of Crete. In this, notice this line: greet those who love us in the faith.
We should be grateful for the people in our life who love us in the faith. We enjoy our bond as brothers and sisters in Jesus, a bond that can go deeper than blood because it is in the faith. I want to say “thank you” to those who love us in the faith.
At the end of it all, Paul wrote: Grace be with you all. Even though the letter to Titus has a lot of emphasis on practical Christian living, we can only live the way God wants us to when we walk in His grace. We’re grateful for all His grace gives us and teaches us, and we long for that grace to be with us more and more. By faith, receive His grace today and for the coming week – and then maintain good works!
Denke an andere Menschen
Wenn ich Artemas zu dir senden werde oder Tychikus, so beeile dich, zu mir nach Nikopolis zu kommen; denn ich habe beschlossen, dort zu überwintern. Zenas, den Schriftgelehrten, und Apollos schicke eilends voraus und lass ihnen an nichts fehlen! (Titus 3,12-13)
Oftmals bringt Paulus am Ende seiner Briefe persönliche Anliegen für verschiedene Leuten ein. Sein Brief an Titus macht da keine Ausnahme. Am Ende erwähnt Paulus vier Leute: Artemas, Tychikus, Zenas und Apollos.
Man liest diese Worte und reagiert vielleicht mit: „Na und?“ Wer interessiert sich schon für diese vier Menschen, über die wir so gut wie nichts wissen? Doch selbst ein Abschnitt wie dieser ist wertvoll.
Erstens zeigt er uns, dass Paulus ein echter Mensch in einer echten Welt mit echten Freunden war, mit denen er regelmäßig Kontakt hatte und die ihm wichtig waren. Man stellt sich Paulus manchmal vielleicht wie einen Superhelden vor, doch das war er nicht. Er hatte Freunde und er brauchte Freunde, und er schätzte seine Mitarbeiter im Reich Gottes sehr.
Zweitens zeigt er uns, dass das Werk Gottes im ersten Jahrhundert der Christenheit weit über das hinausging, was der Apostel Paulus tat. Wir wissen viel über die Arbeit von Paulus, doch es gab wohl noch viele weitere Menschen, die eine ähnliche Arbeit wie Paulus taten, von denen es keine Aufzeichnungen gibt. Die Auflistung dieser Namen zeigt den dynamischen Wachstum der christlichen Bewegung.
Es war Zeit weiterzugehen
Drittens zeigt er uns, dass Titus diese Arbeit auf Kreta nicht für immer tun sollte. Es scheint so, dass wenn Artemas und Tychikus bei Titus ankamen, dieser Kreta verlassen und Paulus in Nikopolis (eine Stadt, die an der Westküste Griechenlands lag) treffen sollte. Titus sollte sein Bestes geben bis diese Zwei dort ankamen und ihnen dann die Arbeit überlassen. Es war eine bestimmte Zeit, die Titus dort arbeiten sollte, und diese würde nun enden.
Viertens zeigt er, dass wir die unterstützen sollen, die Gottes Werk tun. Als Paulus sagte, Zenas, den Schriftgelehrten, und Apollos schicke eilends voraus und lass es ihnen an nichts fehlen, meinte er damit, dass Titus ihnen das Geld geben sollte, das sie für die Reise benötigten. Zenas und Apollos waren wahrscheinlich diejenigen, die den Brief zu Titus brachten. Titus sollte das gemeinsame Geld der Gemeinde nehmen und sie auf den Weg schicken.
Wenn es Menschen gibt, die du bei ihrer Arbeit für Gott unterstützen kannst, überlege im Gebet, ob du das tun solltest. Vielleicht ist da ein Zenas oder ein Apollos, denen du helfen kannst.
Remember People
When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing. (Titus 3:12-13)
Many times, towards the end of one of Paul’s letters, he included personal notes to several different people. Paul’s letter to Titus was no different. Here, towards the very end of this short letter, Paul mentioned four people: Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas, and Apollos.
It’s easy to read these words and respond with a great big, “So what?” After all, who really cares about these four people that we know so little about? Yet there is value even in passages like these.
First, this shows us that Paul was a real man in a real world with real friends that he had regular contact with and care for. We can think of a man like Paul of something like a superman, but he wasn’t. He had friends and needed friends and valued these co-workers in the kingdom.
Second, it shows that the work God did in the first century of Christianity went far beyond what the Apostle Paul did. We know the most about Paul’s work, but there may have been many people who did a similar work that Paul did that are lost to history. The mention of these several names shows the dynamic growth of the Christian movement.
Time to Move On
Third, it shows that Titus was not to do his work on Crete forever. It seems that when Artemas and Tychicus came to Titus, he was to leave Crete and join Paul at Nicopolis (a city on what is today the western coast of Greece). Titus was to do as much as he could until those two came, and then turn the work over to them. There was time and a season for Titus’ work there, and it would end.
Fourth, it shows that we should support those who do God’s work. When Paul said, send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing he meant that Titus should give them the money and help they needed for their travel. Zenas and Apollos probably the ones who brought the letter to Titus. When they left, Titus was to use the money in common among God’s people to send them on their way.
If there are some people you can support along the way as they do God’s work, the prayerfully consider doing. Maybe there is a Zenas or an Apollos you could provide for.