Title: Depths of God's Grace
Text: Titus 2:11-14
Sermon Link: Going
Deep Through Grace
We need to understand the Gospel and wrestle with how it applies to everyday life. The Gospel is everything...it isn't just for cracking the door to Heaven open, so that we can get our foot in the door, but rather it is for everyday life...as Tim Keller says: "It's not just the A,B,Cs of Christianity, but rather the A through Z of Christianity."
I used the following video with the below definition of the Gospel....
Opening Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIhGxEdez98
God
Our
Sins
Paying
Everyone
Life
What does it look like to preach the Gospel to yourself? A good starting place is to ask: "Why do we need God's Grace?" (Verse 11)
One way to clarify this is to ask: Why do you do good works? Do you do them to earn God's favor? That isn't how it works...that goes against Scripture...no you do good works, because you have God's favor... We need to own the depth of our sin and live in the depths of God's grace. In the midst of sin there needs to be points in time where we just stop and ask: "Why am I running after that and rejecting the greatness of God and His glory?" If that doesn't convict you...I as a pastor can't help you...in the end the only hope for you (and me) is the Gospel...apart from Jesus and His righteousness applied to you, God doesn't want you on His team...you can't earn his righteousness...Check out Ephesians 2:8-10...we need God's grace because of the depths of our sin...until you feel the weight of that you will love God little...we need God's grace and we need it every day...
Verse 12 challenges us to be trained by the Gospel...How does the Gospel train you? We easily fall into the trap where we think: "I'm saved, I'm set...I don't need to be trained...I'm right with God...I'm good." The Gospel ought to be the good coach training you, motivating you, challenging you, helping you see your weaknesses and then strengthening you, so that you get better...in essence becoming more and more like Jesus, but where many of us get hung up is that we think that the Gospel is only for eternal life...many of us converted to avoid Hell...is the Gospel only for eternal life or is it for everyday life? Paul is challenging Titus to not forget that it is for everyday life. It is there to train us and when we start to stray the Gospel should be there to leading us to ask "Why am I trading the glory of Christ for that? Why am I turning my back on God when He loves me deeply? If I turn my back on God and pursue that, it is like another hammer blow on the nails that put Jesus on the cross..." That should pull us up short...but if we do not preach the Gospel to ourselves daily...how can it train us? I also expanded on how the Gospel trains us to take our thoughts captive...you'll have to listen find out about that.
Verse 13 challenges us that we ought to be disciplined to wait...is it passive or active waiting? We are disciplined by the Gospel to wait upon Jesus return...actively. Our eyes need to be focused on Jesus return...look for and longing for Him...but that isn't a sitting around waiting...marriage becomes an illustration of what it looks like...one individual shared how when they first got married they couldn't wait until their spouse's return...but then over time it changed to "Oh, they're home....can I find a reason to leave now?" Too many of us are paying lip service to waiting and when the bride groom shows up we'll be caught not ready...no the Gospel preached to ourselves daily should challenge us to actively wait for Him with delight, but we don't just sit there, we go and do the works that are laid out before us...the Kingdom can be experienced now....wherever Jesus went He said "The Kingdom of God is at hand"...guess what He is here and now via the Spirit...that should lead to action...and that should lead us to be disciplined to wait for His full return...
That leads us to verse 14...We are to be purified and zealous for good works...we are to be zealous to be His hands and feet...we have been purified, so that when people brush up against us people should see Jesus...too many of us have too much flesh yet for that too happen...the Gospel purifies us if we allow it...it is how God washes (purifies) our hearts, so that the light of God shines through us so they can see Jesus...but to many are sitting back saying "I've got eternity secure...I don't have to worry about the everyday life." No Jesus came and paid a price, so that you could be "purified and zealous for good works."
God has called us, equipped us and given us everything that we need in the Gospel...everything...the challenge for us is are we going to preach the Gospel to ourselves daily and allow that to motivate us to line up what our heads know with what our hearts believe and let that lead our hands to action...love God, love others and touch/transform the world.
We closed the service with communion after watching the following video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVW5iWqzCQ
By His Grace and For His Glory,
PT
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