A wealthy man had a servant who just wasn’t working out.  The man was slower than a dusty turtle.  So one day the man told him, “Unless your work picks up, I’m going to have to get another servant.”  The servant replied, “That’d be awesome!  I could use a little help around here.”

In Bible days the Roman Empire was filled with servants and masters, many of whom were saved and attended the churches the apostle Paul had established.  This led him to write to Titus:

“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again” (Titus 2:9).

This advice was probably much needed in Pauline churches like the ones in Crete where Titus was stationed, for servants who knew Pauline doctrine were sure to know that “in Christ… there is neither bond nor free” (Gal. 3:26-28).  If you were a servant who got saved in those days, wouldn’t you think that this meant you didn’t have to obey your master?

The problem with that kind of thinking is that Paul went on to say that in Christ “there is neither male nor female” (v. 28).  Well, if the fact that there is neither bond nor free in Christ means servants don’t have to obey their masters, then the fact that there is also neither male nor female in Christ would mean wives don’t have to obey their husbands.  And if wives stop obeying their husbands, the very fabric of society begins to unravel—as we are seeing in our own day!

And God is not in the business of overturning society.  God is in the business of making society better by reinforcing respect for authority in all areas of life.  That’s why Paul exhorts wives to be subject to their husbands (Eph. 5:24), and tells all of us to obey the law (Rom. 13:1-7).

Now in saying these things Paul was not implying that servants and wives were somehow inferior to masters and husbands.  When the Lord Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:42) He was “subject” unto His parents (v. 51), but He was not inferior to Joseph and Mary.  If anything, He was superior to them.  He was God in the flesh!  So obeying them didn’t make Him inferior.  It just showed He knew that God told children: “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Ex. 20:12).  And it didn’t make servants inferior to their masters to obey Paul’s command to “be obedient to them that are your masters” (Eph. 6:5), and “please them well in all things” (Tit. 2:9).

Now to please someone well means to just delight them.  God predicted the Lord would be a man “in whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. 42:1). But in quoting that verse, Matthew translated the word “delighteth” as “well pleased” (Mt. 12:18).  So in saying servants should please their masters well, Paul was saying they should go above and beyond the call of duty by just obeying them.  He was saying a servant should make himself someone who is an absolute delight to his master.

And don’t forget, this is not all dry, dusty advice for people of a bygone era.  What Paul says to servants is advice that we can apply to employees in our own day.  If you are gainfully employed, you should be obedient to your boss, of course.  But if you want to be Pauline and go above and beyond the call of duty, you will want to make yourself a sheer delight to your employer.  Christians who serve their boss like that bring joy to the drudgery of everyday life at work.  Just think of what would happen if all of God’s people were to adopt this godly attitude.  Imagine the testimony that this would be to how Christianity can brighten the world in every area of life.

When Paul adds that servants should serve their masters by “not answering again,” that’s a Bible phrase that only appears here.  But as the Coasters sang many years ago, when parents tell children what to do and hear any “yakety yak” in response, they usually say: “Don’t talk back!” That’s what Paul was telling servants to do, to obey their masters with no backtalk.  Nothing is less delightful than a servant who gives his master lip!  So why not determine here and now that you will please your boss well in all things instead.  You’ll be eternally glad you did.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

Nearly two millennia ago, the Apostle Paul advised young Pastor Titus,

“In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing…gravity” (Titus 2:7).

That word “gravity” means seriousness.  It refers to something that is gravely serious.  That’s why Paul’s words here have led some pastors to believe that humor has no place in the pulpit.  But it is my personal conviction that humor is an effective teaching tool that can be used to illustrate a point of doctrine and make it more memorable.  While preaching I’ll sometimes even say, “Now you’ll remember the joke—don’t forget the point!”

It’s also my conviction that God Himself has a sense of humor, and uses it frequently in His Word.  I laugh every time I read what Moses said when he gave the law to the people of Israel:

“When ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,)…ye said…why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die…Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say…” (Deuteronomy 5:23-27).

God’s people told Moses, as it were, “We find God too scary, so you go hear Him and come back and tell us what He said!”   For some reason that always reminds me of when Indiana Jones was looking down into a pit of snakes, and his guide said, “Asps. Very deadly. You go first!”

Then there’s the time Samuel told Saul to destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock (I Sam. 15:1-3).  Later when the prophet asked the king if he had done so, he claimed he had (v.13).  To which Samuel replied, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (v.14).  In other words, “If you killed all the livestock, how come I still hear them?”

But my favorite funny lines are found in the book of Job.  After Job finished speaking, Bildad the Shuhite—the shortest man in the Bible (You know.  Shoe-height!)—said, “how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?” (Job 8:2).

But Job could give as good as he got!  After his friends pontificated awhile, he razzed them by saying, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you” (12:1,2).  Later he told them, “O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom” (13:5).  In other words, “the smartest thing for you to do would be to sit down and shut up!”  When they didn’t, he told them, “Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on” (Job 21:3).

I share these smiles with you for a couple of reasons.  First, because when I started out in the ministry, I was told that the Word of God is far too serious a book to use humor when teaching it.  And to this day I’m asked why I like to begin my messages with a little bit of wit.  Well, beside the fact that all who teach public speaking agree that that’s the best way to get an audience’s attention and get them settled down and listening, it’s because I believe God has a sense of humor.  We have one, and we are made in His likeness, aren’t we?

But I also share those smiles with you to encourage you to read your Bible through from cover to cover every year using one of those “Read Your Bible Through In A year” plans.  You never know what will tickle your funny bone, and you and the Lord can have a good laugh over it, as I do every year when I come upon those verses and others in my daily Bible reading.

All of this means that when Paul told Titus to show gravity in doctrine, he was reminding him that the edification of the saints is serious stuff, and that a pastor should use every tool in his tool belt to get sound doctrine across to God’s people in a memorable way—including humor.  Remember, “the joy of the LORD is your strength,” not your weakness (Neh. 8:10).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

“When Jesus was teaching Paul, was he seeing Him, or how did he learn exactly?”

Paul answers this question when he wrote, “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord” (2 Cor. 12:1). We know that “revelations” are the revealing of things that were kept secret, for Paul says he received “the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret” (Rom. 16:25). Similarly, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1) is a book that reveals “the wrath of the Lamb” (6:16) that was kept secret in the “meek” way the Lord lived on earth (Matt. 11:29; 21:5).

The writer of Revelation wrote, “I John…am your…companion in tribulation…and in the kingdom” (1:9). Neither the tribulation nor the kingdom that John went on to describe had yet begun, but he was the “companion” of his readers in both those things, for he was with them “in the Spirit” (v. 10) in a virtual reality sort of way. That is, the Lord gave him a realistic vision of the future and told him to write down what he saw (1:11,19).

In the same way, Paul says the Lord revealed the mystery to him by revelation (Gal. 1:12) and said that He would continue to reveal it in more “visions” (2 Cor. 12:1). He then went on to describe one of those visions (vv. 2-4), one that seemed so real he couldn’t tell if he was “in the body, or out of the body” when it happened (v. 3).

But we know that this is how the Lord revealed the mystery to Paul, for he says that in that vision he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (v. 4). Those were words that had to do with the mystery, words of grace that weren’t lawful to speak under the law, such as the reversal of the diet laws of Leviticus 11 in 1 Timothy 4:4,5.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.