Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Titus 3:1-2  Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

  

INTRODUCTION

There have been three events of political significance in my life. First, I was allowed to skip school to attend an Al Gore campaign rally (when he was running as Bill Clinton’s vice president) back in the early 90s. It was significant because I was allowed to skip school and because Bill Clinton had been on MTV, thus asserting himself as the cool candidate—which was the single qualification needed to get my vote as a non-Christian teenager.

The second event of political significance in my life took place in an undergraduate classroom. I was a political science major sitting in a political science class. The professor boldly declared to all of us that our vote didn’t really count for anything. As evidence for his point he asked us if any of us had ever heard of an election that was decided by a single vote. Of course none of us had. He further argued that the Law of Averages dictated that in any given election (especially national elections) the number of people who vote doesn’t matter, only the percentage of people who would vote for a particular candidate. I found his reasoning to be sound. This was significant because it kept me from voting or having any political involvement for over a decade.

The third event of political significance happened while I was driving in the mid 2000s. I happened to be listening to a local Christian radio station while driving. In between songs they played one of those prerecorded “inspirational-thoughts-for-the-day” sound bites. This one was by a man I’d never heard of. His simple message was that Christians ought to vote and vote Christianly because of Matthew 22:15-21 where Jesus instructs the disciples to pay taxes (give to Caesar what is Caesar’s or to the secular government what it has the right to demand). I found this reasoning to be sound. This was significant because I knew I needed to obey the principle. Given the second politically significant event, however, I’d completely ignored politics for a long time and had consequently never even attempted to think Christianly about it. All of this sent me into a years-long attempt to understand what the bible has to say about the relationship between the Church and the State (including the better part of a Master’s thesis on the question of what Christians ought to want legislated in a representative republic such as ours).

In light of Titus 3:1 I want to share some of what I’ve learned from Scripture over the past few years. Of course I’m certainly not going to be able to cover everything I’ve learned, much less everything the Bible has to say about this subject, but I do want to do three things over the next two weeks. First, this week, I want to share with you four of the primary biblical texts on government, second I want to pull out a number of biblical principles from those texts and implications from the principles (three today and four more next week), and third (next week) I want to tell you who to vote for in the coming election (not really, but sort of).

Before I pray, I want to give you my conclusion: God has given government to punish evil and promote good through force and, therefore, God’s people ought to encourage and support it accordingly.

With that, let’s pray.

 

Primary biblical texts concerning the state

As I mentioned, I want to begin by offering four primary texts that Christians need to be aware of concerning God’s design for civil government. Again, I’m going to read each of these (offering a brief word about why they are significant as I read) and then share the first three of several principles and implications f...

Titus 3:3-7 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

INTRODUCTION

Good morning. Next week we’re going to go back to 3:1 (like I promised) and look more closely at how Christians are meant to engage civil government. That will be our final week looking at the doctrines of Titus 3:1-7. This week, however, we’re going to look more closely at the role of works in our salvation. I have two main points that I hope to show you in Scripture and call you to respond to with all of your lives: 1) Our righteous works play a significant role in our salvation, and 2) We must, therefore, fight with all we have (in the power of the Holy Spirit) to live in righteousness so that we will see God!

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of our salvation, and uphold us with a willing spirit (Psalm 51:10-12).

 

HE DOES NOT SAVE US BY OUR WORKS

How many of you have ever heard the saying, “Other religions are spelled ‘do’, but Christianity is spelled ‘done'”? How many of you have every heard someone cry “legalism!” when the topic of Christian obedience came up? How many of you have ever heard it said that our works play no role in our salvation?

There’s good reason for all of these sayings and concerns. For thousands of years God’s people labored under God’s Law in an attempt to do the good works God required of them, believing that they would be found acceptable to God if they did so. However, the point of God’s Law was always to show God’s people that they couldn’t keep it and therein reveal to them their need for a Savior.

And yet, once again, the idea of earning God’s favor through works of righteousness was so ingrained in the Israelites (in some ways by God’s design) that by the time of Jesus’ ministry and the ministry of the apostles, the idea of receiving God’s favor through grace was almost unimaginable.

And so we find passage after passage—in Paul in particular—pleading with whoever will listen to understand that the salvation of God is by grace, not works. Indeed, that’s the point of v.5 in our text for this morning.

Titus 3:4-5 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness…

Consider several other NT passages as well.

Romans 4:5 And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

Galatians 2:16 …we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Ephesians 2:8-9 by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2 Timothy 1:9 [God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…

Again, clearly,

Titus 3:3-7  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

INTRODUCTION

Good morning. Happy Resurrection Sunday! As the Apostle Paul wrote, if not for Easter Sunday, “We are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:19-22).

If you’re a guest with us this morning, welcome! We’re exceedingly glad you’re with us. We’re glad because you get to hear and celebrate with us the words of eternal life.

I do want to say, though, that as a preaching pastor these types of sermons are always the most challenging sermons to give. By “these types of sermons” I mean sermons that are meant to capture the truth and emotions of something as big and central to the Christian faith as the resurrection of the Son of God.

And by “most challenging sermons to give” I mean that all of my limitations and yours are put on display. I’m not smart enough to understand the full meaning and ramifications of the resurrection. Even if I were smart enough, I’m not eloquent enough to convey it to you (Christians and non-Christians, young and old, men and women, rich and poor, broken and joyful, black and white, and…) in a truly appropriate way. Even if I were smart and eloquent enough, I’m not loving enough to care deeply enough for your souls. And even if I were smart and eloquent and loving enough, I’m not mature enough in my faith to be worthy to stand up here and call you all to respond to it when I’m not even doing so completely myself.

And even if I were all of those things, you aren’t smart enough to fully understand what I’d say. Even if you were smart enough to understand, you aren’t spiritually mature enough to appropriately care. And even if you were smart and mature enough, you haven’t submitted yourselves to Jesus enough to rightly respond.

The things we’ve been celebrating this past week and are celebrating today are bigger than I could ever understand or convey and they are bigger than you could ever hear or obey.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us aware of what is always the case (but usually hidden from us): our complete dependence on God for every good thing. Let’s pray, then, that God would be pleased to work in us by his Spirit and his Word, to awaken our minds and hearts to the glories of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all the good that it means for all the people of God.

 

How does God Save His People?

In reverse order, here’s where we are going: we’re going to end up by seeing the glory and significance of the resurrection of Jesus. Before that, though, we’re going to look at the question of how God saves his people. And before that, first, now, we’re going to briefly look at where we’ve been the past few weeks in Titus.

For the past several weeks we’ve been looking at the key doctrines of Titus 3:3-7—focusing particularly on the meaning and implications of the salvation of God mentioned in Titus 3:5.

…when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us…

We began by looking at what God saved us from (our total deprav...

Colossians 1:15-20 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together, And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things,whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Background & Context

The apostle Paul likely wrote this letter to the church at Colossae around 62 AD while he was imprisoned in Rome.

Ten years earlier,around 52 AD, a man named Epaphras had most likely traveled to Ephesus and was converted by the Gospel that Paul preached on his three year missionary journey, (Acts 19:10).

It was this man, Epaphras, that visited Paul while he was in prison in Rome, (Col. 1:7). He shared with him the state of the church at Colossae and a concern about a false teaching that was creeping in amongst the believers there.

Even though Paul had never been to Colossae, he felt a kinship with and responsibility for this church because of the shared faith in the Gospel of Christ that Epaphras had preached to them and they had received.

Problem– The young Colossian church was not mature enough to ward off false teaching that was gaining a foothold in their midst.

Solution– Paul wrote this letter to remind the Colossian Christians of the sufficiency of Christ and His atonement in hopes that it would mature them and give them proper footing to repel the false teaching.

 

Main point: “A high view of Christ’s nature and atoning work will protect us from man-made religion.”

We’ll take a look at the specifics of this false man-made religion later, but it would do us good take a look back into Biblical history to see that the Colossians were not alone in this propensity to fall victim to wanting a religion that they could see, touch, manipulate and control.

The ancient Israelites provide us with a couple of memorable examples of this…

Exodus 32- around 1400-1200 BC The people of Israel ask Aaron for an idol and he gives them a golden calf. This is the story when Moses had been up on Mt. Sinai receiving God’s law and the people became impatient. They demanded that Aaron give them a god or gods that they could follow. Aaron caved to their demands, took their gold and fashioned it into a golden calf. The people were elated and partied as they worshipped the calf. They had a few good days with the calf, then three thousand of them ended up dead by the swords of the Levites.

1 Samuel 8- a couple hundred years later around 1050 BC The people Israel ask the prophet Samuel for a physical king to rule over them and the Lord allows Samuel to give them what they want and anoint Saul as king. The people had grown tired of being ruled directly by God through the judges and prophets. They wanted a physical king like all the nations surrounding them. They got what they wanted and we all know the stories of the pain and consequences Israel experienced at the hand of evil kings that turned their backs on God and His law.

The young Colossian church that Paul was writing to here was not alone in this weakness. This malady had plagued humankind from the beginning when sin entered into creation. Even now, in our sinful flesh we all secretly long to be gods and if we can’t be gods, we’d like to worship one other than the living and true God that requires justice for our sin.

In our flesh we will always tend back towards wanting a controllable religion. We want to be able touch it, manipulate it,

Titus 3:3-7  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

INTRODUCTION

To quickly bring you up to speed, we’re a few weeks into a series looking at the key doctrines of Titus 3:3-7. Two weeks ago we saw what God saved us from (our total depravity), last week, we saw the nature of the God who saves (good and loving and merciful and gracious and generous and Trinitarian). This week we’re going to look at what it means to be saved—the nature of God’s salvation.

Titus 3:5 tells us that God saves people, but what does that mean?

The vast majority of the people I’ve met in my life have at least a basic concept of salvation. The majority of those people have understood salvation to mean primarily (and in many cases merely) going to heaven when they die. Grace, the main point that I want you all to see this morning is that salvation certainly includes “eternal life” (3:7), or going to heaven when you die, but it also includes much, much more than that as well.

You may recall (from the sermon two weeks ago) that we are born spiritually dead in our sin, enemies of God, under the wrath of God, and altogether unable to do anything about any of that. You may also recall, however, that God, on the other hand, is able to do something about it. Again, the main point of this sermon is to describe what God has done, is doing, and will certainly do about it—how he has worked, is working, and will continue to work for our salvation.

Let’s pray that God would grant us understanding, salvation, and worship.

 

He Saved us

As I mentioned in the introduction, we’re going to look at the spectrum of God’s work on our behalf to bring us from death in sin to everlasting fellowship with God. We looked at this a couple years ago when we were in 1 John. Therefore, this morning we’re going to move very quickly through the nature of God’s salvation before closing with a plea to look to God and not yourself for your salvation and the salvation of the world.

Again, Titus 3:5 tells us that although we were dead in our sins, God saved us. From our perspective our salvation begins when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. It is not so from God’s perspective, however. In fact, our salvation began in the mind of God even before time began. Consider again the following ten aspects of God’s saving work on our behalf.

 

1. Election (God’s choice of people to be saved). Before the creation of the universe God elected (or chose or predestined) a people for himself; not based on anything in them, but based on his perfect and sovereign will.

We see this in passages like Ephesians 1:4-6, “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

That God saved us (Titus 3:5) means that we will go to heaven when we die, but we do not understand the glory of our salvation if we do not understand that it began with God’s loving choice “before the foundation of the world…through Jesus Christ…according to the purpose of his will…and to the praise of his glorious grace.”

 

2.

Titus 3:3-7  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

  

INTRODUCTION

If you were here last week I hope you remember at least two things.  First, I hope you remember that over the next several weeks we’re going to be looking at ten different glory-filled doctrines raised in Titus 3:3-7.  And second, and more importantly, I hope you remember the first of these doctrines: that all mankind since Adam, because of Adam, is totally depraved in nature.  That is, all people, by nature, are wholly unable to do good or to please God.  What’s more, we saw last week that in this condition we are enemies of God and under the wrath of God for our treasonous rebellion against God.  Worse still, we are altogether unable to save ourselves from this condition.  Again, obviously, this is really, really bad news.

However, as I pointed to at the end of last week’s sermon, as ominous as this news is, it’s also good news in a way.  It’s good news because it frees us from wasting our time trying to get ourselves right with God in the knowledge that it’s impossible to do so.  It’s good news in that it frees us to love others well in the knowledge that however bad they might be, it’s produced by the same depraved nature that was once in us (that’s the point of 3:3).  But it’s also good news in that our total depravity isn’t the end of the story.  Although we can’t save ourselves, the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can be saved.  The question, then, is how?  If we’re dead in our transgressions and sins and can’t save ourselves, how can we be saved?  That’s where we’re going to turn our attention to today.  The answer begins with the saving nature of the nature of God.

Let’s pray that God would open our eyes to his goodness and glory in order that we would be saved.

 

The DILEMMA

Again, before we can truly appreciate God’s grace here, we must truly feel the dilemma we’re in. Though God made us to glorify and enjoy him forever we responded in foolishness, disobedience, allowing ourselves to be led astray, giving ourselves as slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another (Titus 3:3).

One great trick of the devil is in making sin look less sinful and making hell look unreasonable. Our passage (along with the rest of the bible) won’t allow for that.

So again, in light of this passage and in light of what we saw last week, here’s our dilemma: we are sinful by nature and so we make sinful, treasonous, choices. Our nature and our choices have made us enemies of God, under the wrath of God, and deserving eternal punishment from God. What’s more, there’s nothing we can do about any of this.

If there is any hope for us, then, it must come from outside of us. The great news of Titus 3:4-7 is that it has! Help has come from the very God against whom we’ve committed high treason; from the very God whom we’ve declared our enemy; from the very God who owes us nothing but wrath and judgment; from the very God to whom we’ve been unfaithful. From that God, help has come.

Titus 3:3-5  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy,