I like the picture for today, because it says so much without saying a word. In it we can see and almost feel what the process of training is like for these football players. Training is never a passive pursuit. No one accidentally gets trained. Training requires both a trainer and a trainee and they both need to be actively involved or training never happens. Today we are going to take look at some of the ways that the grace of God trains us.

Titus 2:11-14 [ESV]

We are not alone in this world, the grace of God has appeared(in Jesus through his death, resurrection, and the Holy Spirit) it brings salvation for all people, and it is this grace that trains us to renounce ungodliness. This grace is also the source of our hope that our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will return.

But grace is not a passive gift. It is not a “get out of jail free” card. It is a transformative gift. It is a gift that teaches us. But even teaching is too weak a word. It trains us and disciplines us. I think coach or schoolmaster comes closer to the original idea of the Greek word, that is why I chose this picture of a football coach for this article. The grace of God trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.

But it seems to me that in our time grace is often seen as thoroughly passive. Some even act and speak as if grace makes sin irrelevant. Grace covers all so we can live as we please. No. Just no.

Because of this passive attitude, we are also seeing God’s people turn from the grace of God and deny the truth the moment the world applies even the slightest pressure. This lack of perseverance is a sign that we are failing to allow the grace of God to train us. We have chosen our desire for acceptance and status and comfort over the grace we find in the cross of Christ. But the cross is not a symbol of passivity. It is a symbol of self-sacrificial love.

But how does grace teach us?

Grace is a strange concept in some ways. On the one hand even a child can understand that grace is favor that is completely unearned, it is a gift. But when you get into the question of what exactly this gift really is and does the questions get more difficult to answer.

Like everything else, grace begins with God and comes to us through Jesus. It is a gift and it is our only hope in this life. In some traditions grace is understood to come through various means like, baptism and communion. But I think the “means of grace” is better described as, our response to the gift of God’s grace, and this response can take many, many forms beyond simple outward participation in the sacraments.

This passage tells us that the grace of of God teaches us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions(desires). So to respond to this grace we must listen and obey by renouncing ungodliness and refusing to cave in to the pressures of our own desires. But grace is something that is more like a who than a what, consider this passage from the gospel of John.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Grace comes from, and in some sense maybe is, the indwelling of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of truth in us, given to us by Jesus, that is teaching us. This presence in us teaches us to give up our former desires and habits of mind and body and to enter into a new life that is godly and upright, a life that practices self-control. A self-control that is only possible now that Jesus has conquered the power of sin and taken up residence within us. We are not alone, we are not orphans according to Jesus he has come to us, and dwells in us. And through His Spirit he teaches us and transforms us into His image.

For those whom he foreknew

The grace of God has been freely given to us all, the only question left seems to be, “What are we going to do with it?”. In all of the verses we looked at today, and in quite a few more scattered throughout the new testament, we see that God has already made the first move. And God through His grace continues to do all the heavy lifting. It seems all we need to do is allow Jesus to do His work in us. We need to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” as he has taught us. We can do this because He now resides in us by His Holy Spirit, and His Spirit in us can do what we never could on our own.

We are a new creation now, all things are new, but the old still exists. If we choose to, we can still live according to our old nature. But why would we want this? Jesus indwells us, the Holy Spirit indwells us, God is in us in other words. God himself is conforming us into the image of His Son. And as Paul concludes after recounting all of this, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”.

This week

Grace has been given to us, it is a grace so great that I think we often disbelieve it. We wonder, “how can this be?”, but the testimony of prophets and apostles is that God really has done this. So we need to listen to the grace that has been given to us. We need to consider our forgiveness and stop exploiting God’s grace by continuing to live as though nothing has happened. This week we need to listen to the voice of God’s grace through the Spirit and trust in that grace to give us the strength to do what we could never do on our own. Let’s take courage and renounce whatever is left of ungodliness and worldly passions. Join me in being “zealous for good works” this week, as we wait for the blessed hope of Christ’s return as the true king of heaven and earth.

Have a great week!