Eagerly Awaiting
Notes
Transcript
Series Review
The theme verse for our advent series this year has been
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation. The grace of God that appeared is a reference to the arrival of Jesus Christ.
As was foreshadowed in the OT, Jesus came and dwelt among us
And in coming to dwell among people, He came on a mission for His people. To save them from their sin
And as Pastor Josh helped us to see last week on Christmas Day, Christ’s redemptive work is a light to all nations, that is to all peoples. No one is beyond the reach of the grace of God. God regards the lowly, the outcasts, the rejects of society. Salvation has come for all people.
This is what we acknowledge and celebrate in the incarnation of Jesus.
But as we can observe the theme of anticipation in the OT. Anticipation of the fulfillment of the promises present in the prophecies. The anticipation of the relief that would be brought to the people of God. The anticipation of the coming of the promised Messiah who would heal His people from the plague of their sin and rescue them from the condemnation they were due. We know this anticipation. We know that Jesus will come again. The world around us lives in darkness, but those who have been saved, forgiven of their sins, rescued from the wrath of God and contend with the darkness that is in the world, do not ultimately live in darkness. We have seen a great light, and we have the hope of Jesus’ return.
But now we wait. We struggle, endure, persevere, suffer. How much of a factor is the promise, that is to say, the certainty that we possess as God’s people that Jesus will return, in our living now?
If we are in Christ, we are to live for Christ. As Paul said, for me to live is Christ. What, if anything, does waiting for the Lord have to do with living for the Lord?
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Introduction
FCF: We tend to create too much of a distinction in our minds between waiting for the Lord and living for the Lord.
We readily make the connection between the finished work of Christ and our living for Him.
What Christ has already accomplished
And what I’m suggesting is that the hope we have in Christ is as connected to what He is yet to do as it is to what He has already accomplished. He has already accomplished the redemption of His people. He has already saved His people from their sins. He has already delivered the fatal blow to the enemy. He has already defeated death itself. He is the resurrection and the life, so while those who have believed in Him may die, they will ultimately live.
All of this has been accomplished. The redemption of His people is still occuring today, but all that was necessary for people to be forgiven of their sins and granted eternal life has been completed by Christ.
But, there is more to come:
The resurrection of our bodies
The eradication of the effects of sin from the experience of His people
The final defeat of Satan and all the enemies of Christ and His church
The new heavens and the new earth
The removal of all causes of our painful tears
Jesus dwelling with His people
We will be His people and He will be our God
And much more could be said here, but what I want us to see is that this truth, this reality that Jesus is coming back, and all that means, all that is yet to come is meant to have profound implications on our current living.
Main Idea: Waiting for the Lord is living for the Lord.
Main Question: How should our waiting for the Lord impact our living for the Lord?
It should cause a longing for Christ that results in an active purification of our lives (for what is good for our souls) (12-13)
AQ: What does longing for Christ look like?
active (no passive) (12)
I want us to see the flow of Paul’s argument beginning in v. 11.
v. 11 refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ which accomplished the salvation of His people
the v. 12 begins a phrase that describes the salvation of His people: training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age.
so what we know at this point is that the incarnation of Jesus resulted in the salvation of His people, and this salvation is active. People who are saved by the appearing of the grace of God will strive to live faithfully to God in this present age.
But v. 13 introduces yet another phrase, that takes a step further into results of Christ’s incarnation. Those saved wait: waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ...
Waiting for the Lord is not passive. It’s an active purifying of our lives in the active pursuit of holiness in readiness for the return of Jesus.
Waiting for Jesus is not like standing in the line at the grocery store. When it comes to recipients of the salvation that comes through the grace of God, waiting is getting ready. And getting ready happens now in this present age.
You might recall the scene between Job and his wife after they had both experienced tremendous loss and Job had been afflicted physically. As Job sits in his misery and his wife look on, she says
The Lexham English Septuagint (Chapter 2)
after much time had passed, his wife said to him, “⌊How long⌋ will you wait, saying, 9a ‘Behold, I wait for just a little time to receive the hope of my deliverance?’
Job’s wife was confused and frustrated because of his waiting. By most people’s standards today, he had lost everything. Means of earning a living, his children and his health. But even after all that loss, he waited. Why? Because he still had the hope of his salvation. He had not lost sight of the fact that despite how painful and dark life had become, he still possessed hope. Hope in his deliverance from God.
Church, we have this same hope, and it is even more clear now. We have Christ. He came, he brought salvation and this salvation has an effect on His people that gives them a thirst for righteousness. So as we wait for Him to return, we get ready.
But if waiting for Jesus to return is active and not passive. If it’s getting ready and not just letting time pass by? What must occupy our minds as we wait? Yes, thinking about the day when Christ will return can be encouraging, but we’re not spending our days thinking only about what is yet to come. There’s
our jobs
our marriages
our kids
schedules
money stuff
relationship stuff
health stuff
and much more
Even with all of this, we have cause for celebration. It’s Christ. But more specifically, Christ’s redemptive work.
2. To celebrate Christ (14)
This is what should be weaved through all of our daily experiences. The fact that Christ had come, has brought salvation and is coming again, for Paul, brings forth His redemptive work. This was the encouragement he offered to a weary pastor, and it is the encouragement we have today.
AQ: What do we celebrate when we celebrate Christ?
Christ’s atoning work
Notice the who in v. 14. This is a reference to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We see that He is Savior by what is said about Him here, but even this reference makes it crystal clear that Jesus is God.
But what really displays the deity of Christ is that He gave Himself. This is a rich phrase. We see it used in
who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
This is what Paul is referencing in Titus. Jesus gave Himself for our sins. To rescue us from this present evil age. Up in verse 12, we are told that our salvation enables us to live faithfully to God in this present age. In Galatians, the redemptive work of Christ rescues us from this present evil age. That we can be faithful to God amidst the corruption of the world is a testimony to the power of our redemption. But what we need to keep clear in our minds is that this world will not overcome those who belong to Christ. Those who wait for Christ will not be overcome by the world while we wait. We belong to Him.
This is the cause of our celebration now. That Jesus gave Himself is why we can have hope and be encouraged now.
Now follow here in v. 14. Christ’s giving of Himself had a dual purpose:
first, to redeem us from all lawlessness or wickedness.
anomia no law
It’s the opposite of righteousness
a description of lawlessness is outlined in Paul’s letter to the Romans 1:18-3:20. Here some of what we see there. People who are imprisoned to lawlessness, that is people who reject Christ
suppress the truth
refuse to honor God and give thanks to Him
are futile in their thinking
are impure
treat their bodies with dishonor
worship that which is finite instead of the one true eternal God
ruled by covetousness, malice, sexual immorality and all manner of unrighteousness
they have hard and impenitent hearts
without hope
For those of us who are recipients of Christ’s redemption, we may remember our former selves. So the fact that we have been redeemed from all of this is not a point of pride but a humbling reality.
And for those who have loved ones living in this hopeless state, Christ can redeem them. His work is enough. And even some may see that you are living under this impossible burden. Christ gave Himself to redeem us, that is to set us free from this lawlessness… this wickedness. You are not too far gone. It is not too late. Christ has already finished this work.
But the 2nd purpose of Christ giving Himself: to cleanse His people in order to make them His own
So how does this work. How are cleansed and what does it mean that we are the possessions of Christ?
Let’s begin with the phrase in v. 14: to purify for himself a people.
Ezekiel references this relationship through cleansing. I encourage you to turn to
They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
Notice what God does. He claims His people by stating what they will no longer do. They will no longer defile themselves idol worship and their other sinful practices. He saved them from their backsliding. Then he cleaned them. I don’t want to overemphasize the chronology of the process, but this is what God does with His people. He rescues us from our sin and cleanses us to make us acceptable to be His possession.
This is the idea of atonement. Consider some of what took place on the Day of Atonement:
And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would, through sacrifice, make atonement (appease the wrath of God) on behalf of God’s people and as a result they were clean before Him. They were acceptable to Him.
But we know today that
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
But Christ gave Himself and in so doing He purified His people rendering them fit to be His possession.
And when it comes to His people being His possession consider
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,
Yes, Christ makes His people His own possession, but His people are His treasured possession. Christ’s people are precious to Him.
Never loose sight church of who we are declared to be
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Remember what we considered on Christmas Eve together
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Christ has a people, and He came on a mission to save His people from their sins, and in saving His people from their sins, He liberated them from the bondage of their sin and cleansed them making them His own precious possession.
This is what we dwell upon as we wait. As we get ready. As we struggle and suffer and contend and persevere we celebrate Christ, even through tears at times, that He gave Himself to redeem us from all that stands in the way of a right relationship with Him. It’s all been removed. His people are His treasured possession.
Christ’s cleansing work
Christ’s transforming work
Waiting for the Lord is living for the Lord.
And notice the passion of His treasured possession. Good works.
zealous: passion even militant. Outright commitment to good works. Works that please God. Works that celebrate the redemption of Christ. Works that reflect we belong to Christ. Works that declare the glory of God.
Paul will repeat this theme in the next chapter
The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
Those who believe in God must be careful to devote themselves to good works. We can get lost in our lives and loose sight of this fundamental truth. We are to give ourselves to the good works that God has prepared for us to do. This is what it is to wait for Christ. Getting ready. Being about His business.
Conclusion
Waiting for the Lord is living for the Lord
This intersection of living for the Lord and waiting for the Lord is met with our longing for Christ and our celebrating of Christ.
We think about what us yet to come but we think also what has already been accomplished. So much to look forward to and so much to celebrate.
It makes sense Paul concludes this thought by exhorting pastor Titus to declare these things. This is the substance of our message… of our identity. We declare Christ and Him crucified. We declare the need to be freed from and cleansed from sin. We proclaim that Jesus is going to return and until He does we encourage one another to wait. We need to comfort one another with the promises of the gospel. There are times we need to rebuke or correct one another on the basis of the truths of the gospel. This is our hope. This is our message. This is our living. We are waiting together for our Blessed Hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.