11.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• The eleventh mark of a mature Christian is that he is focused on others (instead of being arrogant).
• To be arrogant means to live for yourself and your own pleasure.
• There are many serious Christians who are arrogant in their thinking.
• A spiritually mature person understands that life is not about him, but about the glory of Jesus Christ.
• He also understands that Christ loved him and died for him.
• This fills his heart with joy and willingness to serve others.

11.2 Titus 1:5-9 (ESV)←⤒🔗

^5. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you –

^6. if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 

^7. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

^8. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

^9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

© NET Bible

11.3 Where we are now←⤒🔗

So far in this Bible study, we have looked at ten marks of maturity. From 1 Timothy 3:2-3 we have seen that a mature Christian is:

1. Above reproach
2. Sexually pure
3. Temperate
4. Self-controlled
5. Respectable
6. Hospitable
7. A learner and sharer of God’s Word
8. Free from addiction
9. Gentle
10. Focused on the good fight

There are ten more marks left for us to study. But six of them are not found in 1 Timothy 3. We find them in Titus 1:5-9. This passage will be our focus for Lessons 11 to 16.

In Titus 1:5-9, Paul is again writing about overseers. Again he gives a list of things that an overseer (and also every Christian) should be. In this lesson we will focus on one of these things: “not…arrogant” (verse 7).

A mature Christian is not arrogant. We can say this in another, more positive way: a mature Christian is focused on others.

11.4 Me, me, me!←⤒🔗

“Me, me, me. Life is about me and what I want.” That is the rule by which an arrogant person lives. The Greek word for “arrogant” means “self-pleasing.” To be arrogant is to live for yourself and your own pleasure.

Later in his letter to Titus, Paul speaks about arrogant people:

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. Titus 3:3

When you live for yourself, you become the enemy of the people around you. You don’t really care for them because you care only for your own “passions and desires.”

We all know such arrogant people. But in this verse, Paul is not speaking about other people. At the beginning of the verse, he says, “For we too…” He is speaking about himself and about you and me!

Each of us has an old, sinful heart. This old heart says, “Me, me, me!” But Christ died for us, so that we will live for God. With the help of his Spirit, we can look away from ourselves. We can begin to love God and love the people around us.

11.5 Focused on others←⤒🔗

There are many Christians who are serious about their faith, but who focus on themselves. For example, they are always asking questions such as

• What is God’s special plan for me?
• What special message does God have for me?
• What are my spiritual gifts?

These Christians will often read the Bible in an arrogant, self-pleasing way. They read a verse here and a verse there, and they imagine that these verses are all about them. They may even look for preachers who will tell them what they wish to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).

This is not spiritual maturity. How do we know it? Because Jesus himself said so.

One day Jesus heard how his disciples were arguing with each other. Each of them wanted to be the greatest in God’s kingdom. Then Jesus called them to himself. He told them,

“You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. But it is not this way among you.

Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).

A person who is spiritually mature (“great”) does not focus on himself: his own power and authority, his own great faith, his own good works, his own problems, or even his own spiritual maturity. He understands that life is not about him, but about the glory of Jesus Christ.

There is also something else that this person understands. He understands that Jesus Christ, the glorious King, loved him and died for him. This fills his heart with joy and thankfulness. He realizes that in Christ, he has everything he needs.

So, this person does not look for power, authority, riches, or honour in this world. No, he instead looks for ways to serve people, just as Christ has served him. His life is filled with joy, because he experiences the truth of Christ’s words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).