Titus 2:1 – 15
Introduction:
Two vehicles are involved in a car accident. There is a dark colored car with some firemen surrounding it. The door of the car has been ripped off and the firemen have brought along a stretcher, as the driver may have been injured The other car is red in color and its front portion has been wrecked badly. I would like for us to do a little speculating. What do you think caused the accident? Was one of the drivers drunk? Was one of the drivers using his cellular phone while driving? Was one of the drivers or both drivers going beyond the speed limit? Did one of the drivers refuse to give the other driver the right of way? What do you think is the reason? Whatever may be the answer you are thinking of right now, let me tell you that no one really knows as to how the accident happened, but who among you would agree that there definitely has to be a reason for the accident, that an accident doesn't just happen for no reason whatsoever?
I think a great illustration for the seeking of reason can be found in a somewhat familiar story about cooking turkey. Admittedly, many among us do not eat turkey because it is expensive and frankly, it isn't as tasty as chicken. However, turkey is an American staple especially when they are celebrating Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November and Christmas. The story is told about a man who was enjoying his turkey during one of the holidays and he compliments his wife for a very delicious turkey dinner. However, he then ask his wife a question that he had wanted to ask for the longest time – why did she cut the legs off the turkey prior to roasting? The wife simply answered, “That was how mom used to do it.” Not satisfied with the answer, the man visits his mother-in-law one day and posed the same question. The mother-in-law also gave the same answer. Still not satisfied, the man finally decided to visit his wife's grandmother to ask the question. The grandmother's reply was simply that, when she was cooking turkey, the stove in her house was small and you couldn't fit the entire bird into the stove unless you cut off the legs of the turkey! The grandmother knew why she had to cut the legs off the turkey but her daughter and granddaughter followed what she did without really knowing the reason why.
We all want to know what are the reasons why we should or shouldn't do something, or why something happened. We all want to know why something has to be done one way and not another. We feel frustrated when people give answers like “I told you so” or the Tagalog word “basta” because they don't answer our need for knowing the reason why. I am sure many here who are teenagers would feel frustrated when your parents ask you to do something and when you ask the question why, they just simply tell you to stop asking and just do it. We want valid reasons to be stated before we will get around to doing what we're told to do.
I bet we do the same thing with God. We wonder why the Bible has so many commands that we're supposed to follow and, when we are reminded to obey God's Word, we struggle and we want to ask the question “why”. We want God to give us reasons for obedience.
Today's passage actually begins with commands that are specific for certain groups of people within the church. Paul had given Titus clear instructions as to what he was to teach to each group of people in the church. There are the older men and women, the young men and women and the slaves. Paul made sure that all the bases are covered, that no one is left out when it comes to teachings. Now, I do not know if the believers of Crete, who had come out from a life of paganism and who were unfamiliar with the Scriptures, unlike the Jewish background believers, were prone to ask why they had to obey the commands of God, but Paul made sure that when he wrote this letter to Titus, he not only wrote about the things the Cretans were supposed to do, but he also wrote the reason why, or he gave the motivation for doing right. What exactly was this motivation? The answer can be found in verses 11 to 14 and we will concentrate our study this morning on these four verses.
Now, the right motivation or reason is important because it determines the motive of our actions as well as the kind of actions we will make, especially when we are talking about the Christian faith. Some people obey God's Word and do good works for the wrong reasons – they think it will be their ticket to eternal life. They are no different from people of other religions who clearly teach that salvation must be earned. Some obey out of unhealthy and unjustified fear towards God, scared that God would zap them with lightning or that he would cause countless misery to them if they refuse to serve Him.
In our passage this morning, we find that there is one right motivation or reason for obedience to God and it is the concept of grace. The Greek word which we translate as grace is charis and it occurs around 170 timex throughout the Greek New Testament in various forms, an indication that this concept is important for the Christian faith and familiar to many, even those belonging to pagan society. Basically, the word means favor and, in Paul's letter to Titus, this grace is manifested in three areas of the believer's walk – his past, his present and his future.
I. Grace in Our Past – Salvation (vv. 11, 14)
When we think of the word grace we automatically think of what God did for us when he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Paul affirms this in verse 11 when he wrote that God's grace brought forth salvation; then in verse 14 he briefly discussed about how Jesus willingly gave up his life in order to redeem us from our sins and to purify us and make us his people.
When we study the subject matter of salvation, we know that the need for salvation arose due to man's fall into the grasp of sin. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we are deserving of nothing less than death (Romans 6:23). Our God is a God of justice and holiness and he cannot allow us to get away with our sins. However, God is also a God of love and because of his great love for us, he chose to show his favor, his unmerited, undeserved favor to us by sending his Son to die for us (Romans 5:8). God knew that we could never meet his righteous standard, no matter how much good we try to do, which we why he decided to send his own Son who would fulfill all of God's requirements in our place. This is an act of grace and it stands in contrast to what so many of the world's religions are teaching. Real, biblical Christianity teaches that the way to salvation has been given to us through Jesus Christ. We no longer need to win God's favor because he has already given it to us through his son. It is now a matter of accepting this manifestation of grace by faith (Ephesians 2:8).
The story is told of a young girl who left work early so she could have some uninterrupted study time right before a final exam in religion class. She studied all night. When she arrived at class in the morning everybody was cramming as much last minute info as their minds could handle. The teacher walked in and said, "Let’s do a quick review before the test." They followed him through the review that was laid out on the study guide. As he covered item by item he finally jumped to issues the young girl had never heard covered in class. Several hands went up, "We never had that information before." The teacher picked up the text book and held it in his left hand and said, "Everything is in the book and you are clearly responsible for everything in the book." Who could argue with that!
Finally it was time to take the test. --- The assistants passed out the test and the professor said, "Leave your test face down on the desk until everyone has one --- I’ll tell you when to turn your paper over and start." Two minutes later the class heard, "OK, you may start." When the young girl turned her test over, every answer was filled in! A note at the bottom of the last page said: "Your Final Exam is now over. All your answers are correct. You are blessed with an ’A’ on the final exam." Every student read the same thing and looked up at the professor in utter astonishment! When the professor was sure all eyes were on him he said, "You passed the test for one reason only --- because the creator of the test took the test for you. All your study time, class time and hard work in preparation for this exam did not help you get the "A". You have just experienced --- GRACE."
Brothers and sisters, grace has been extended to us through Christ and this should serve as a motivation or a reason for us to obey the Lord. God has sacrificed so much for us, let us not be ungrateful to him and continue going our own way but instead, let us be eager to do good (verse 14), as our way of saying thank you to the Lord for his grace.
II. Grace in our Present – Sanctification (v. 12)
Grace manifests itself not only during salvation. This is a mistake that we often commit – to confine grace to being merely in the past, when we received Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior. It is as if grace was in operation in bringing us to salvation but after that, we have to work with our own energy and effort. However, our passage this morning, verse 12 in particular, states very clearly that it is grace that teaches us to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while, at the same time, rejecting all forms of ungodliness and worldly passions.
After salvation, every true believer goes through a stage which is termed as sanctification. Now, sanctification is simply the stage wherein a believer is being made holy or he is being transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. It is not a one-shot deal where we are instantly transformed but it is a continuing process; in fact is is lifelong in nature. No one here can ever say that he has already “arrived” spiritually, no pastor, elder, deacon, or even my friend who is a bishop in his denomination can ever claim that he or she is already spiritually mature or perfect. As I've mentioned a moment ago, grace remains in operation throughout the stage of sanctification. Although we are to exert effort in obeying the Lord as well as in serving Him, the strength to do so comes from Him. On our own, it is impossible to live the holy life with all the temptations and pressures that bombard us each day. Paul recognized this and he himself acknowledged that it is only through Christ that he can do all things (Philippians 4:13).
I am sure that when you faced certain temptations and you did not yield to it, you most likely sensed the prompting of the Holy Spirit who was telling you not to give in to the temptation. It was also the Holy Spirit who gave you the power to say “no” to that temptation. It was also the Holy Spirit who made sure that you keep yourself humble and not think that your victory came about because of your own strength. Yes, we need to do our part, but God bestows grace for our sanctification or growth towards holiness through his Holy Spirit. The same is true even when we face trials. It is God's grace that enables us to stay true to the Lord and to do the right thing. We can also say the same thing about ministry – it is God's grace that enables us to do the task that we need to accomplish.
There is a hymn that I love very much; it is the hymn, “He Giveth More Grace”. In this hymn, the writer talked about God continually bestowing his grace in our time of need. The writer has realized an important spiritual secret that we all need to appropriate for ourselves and that is, to ask God continually for his grace to persevere in following the footsteps of our Lord Jesus. Grace is not just something that we received during salvation but it is something we continually receive, even up to now, as we strive toward godliness and holiness.
III. Grace in Our Future – Glorification (v. 13)
Finally, God's grace is manifested in our future which is none other than the second coming of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Note that the second coming of Jesus is termed as “our blessed hope”, the fulfillment of God's promise of final redemption for his people. When that time comes, we will go through what scholars term as “glorification”, the point where we are made perfect. It will also be the moment where we will be united with our Lord and we will be with him forever (1 Thessalonians 4) and it is what we all should be looking forward to. I call glorification as a manifestation of God's grace because it is again something that God does for us out of his love for us. It is a gift that he gives to all believers.
What is the connection of Jesus' future coming to the way we live? Well, it should encourage us to be ready for his coming by living a life that is beyond question. It is because we don't know when exactly the Lord will be coming back and we don't want to caught unprepared, thus we have to continually strive to be godly and holy so that when the Lord comes soon and unexpectedly, we will not feel ashamed or embarrassed.
We find a similar passage in Romans 13:11 – 14 where Paul stated that our salvation is much nearer than ever before, thus, we are to cast off the works of darkness and instead, to walk in the light. Again, what is implied is that Jesus is coming soon and we should not be caught unprepared by living a life of sin, a life of godlessness.
Unfortunately, many believers today live as if Jesus won't be coming anytime soon, as if he is still very far away. This mindset causes us to become too lax when it comes to our spiritual growth and our ministry. However, if we constantly remind ourselves that Jesus could come anytime soon, even in our lifetime, then this should move us to be prepared for that coming by no longer living for the things of this world, but pursuing instead those things that God wants us to do.
The great American preacher, Harry Ironside was once preaching before a congregation regarding the second coming of Jesus. When he was bringing his message to a close by praying, he became conscious that a woman was walking out of the chapel because her skirt would make a swishing sound while she was walking. After the service, Ironside was outside greeting the worshippers when he noticed a woman pacing back and forth. He approached her but before he could say anything, she blurted out, “How could you dare to pray like that – Come Lord Jesus? I don't want him to come. It would break all of my plans. How dare you! Ironside gently replied, “My dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you like it or not.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is coming, whether we like it our not. No one can stop his from coming back. It should not be something that we dread because it would throw all of our plans into disarray, but instead it should be something we anticipate because it is God's grace in full fruition. We must be prepared for that moment, and our preparation comes by living a life that please him – a life of godliness and holiness.
Conclusion:
We are all called to live a life of godliness and holiness. This calling is not without its reason – the reason of grace. We have all experienced grace in the past, when we were saved from our sins through the cross of Jesus Christ. We continue to experience grace in our sanctification, as God continues to bestow upon us the things we need for the holy life. We will experience a future grace when Jesus comes again in all his glory and this should motivate us to live in expectation of his coming by doing all the right things and shunning the evil. Indeed, grace is a beautiful reason or motivation for all of us to live the life God has called us to.
In closing, I would like for us to consider the lyrics of a hymn that I am sure many of us love very much. It is the hymn, “Amazing Grace”. Reflect on the three aspects of grace that I've mentioned from today's passage and give thanks to the Lord for the wondrous grace that he bestows upon us and let us resolve to live in accordance with the grace we have received from him.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
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