Verse 1-2: Tony Stark had Jarvis. Batman had Alfred. The Addams family had Lurch, the Owens family had Mr. Belvedere, The Fresh Prince had Geoffrey, and Downton Abbey had Carson. In fiction, everyone can see the value of the butler, many of us may want a butler, but rarely would anyone ever say they want to be the butler. What is the purpose of the butler? What are the attributes of a good butler?

A little bit of us always wants to place ourselves as the master of the house, but God isn’t calling us to be masters, he’s calling to be servants. Why is the butler job unattractive?

Verse 3: Have you ever had a time in your life when you made a huge mistake or you were caught in something that was so bad, all you could think to do was pray to God? Have you ever prayed to God that if he got you out of your situation just this once, you would turn your life around?

Since that moment, did your life change permanently? What are some areas in your life that need permanent change, that could be remedied if you take steps right now to change the trajectory (money, marriage, career, etc.)? Why is it hard to make permanent changes?

“I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God’s grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let Him but sheathe that sword for a moment and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over—I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed. And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless.” C. S. Lewis – The Problem of Pain

Verse 4-6: Do you ever struggle when people, especially yourself, don’t get what they deserve? Are you frustrated when the person who works less than you gets the promotion, the rich only get richer, the jerk gets the girl, the bad behavior goes unpunished, or the good die young? Why do you think we care so much about what’s fair when it’s obvious that life isn’t fair?

Do you think God is fair? Is it important that God is fair?

Verse 7: What is it that Christians inherit? Why are we called heirs?

Verse 8: Why do you think Paul tells Titus that believers ought to be devoted to good works? What are some things you are devoted to? What does your calendar and your bank account say you are devoted to?

Verse 9-11: What are some foolish controversies and quarrels that have affected your church? Why did that happen?

How do we avoid division in our churches?

Do you think we should turn away people who stir up dissension? Have you ever been the person who has stirred up dissension?

How do we build up a strong church body?