Titus 1:1-3 - Gospel Identity

Identity is a person’s answer to the question “Who am I?”

I am a husband, father, church planter, pastor.

More basic answers: I am a human. I am a man. I am a son.

Identity involves a sense of personal uniqueness and identification with ideals.

Disney movies are continually discovering their identity

The movie the Princess and the Frog is about a small town girl, Tianna, from New Orleans, who is bent on making her father’s dream come true and start a restaurant.

Then narcissistic Prince Naveen comes to town and does some work with the ShadowMan and gets them both turned into a frogs.

They go on this journey to Mama Odie, the blind lady who lives in a ship in a tree in the bayou

She begins singing this song about how they are supposed to dig alittle deeper to find out who they are and what they need.

Disney often draws our attention that our identity can be found within ourselves if we just dig a little deeper!

Identity is where a person finds their values, their purpose, and their mission in life.

Paul opens his letter to Titus with an identity statement.

Paul opens the letter with one of his longest introductions.

Paul's intro drips with gospel identity.

Paul’s life and identity had been drastically changed by Jesus

Paul opens his letter by telling Titus that his identity was changed and given to him by God!

Paul wrote to Timothy saying he was 1 Timothy 1:13 “formerly was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,”

Paul ascribes two titles given to Him by God

Servant and Apostle

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ” (v. 1a)

Greek: Doulos—Slave/bondservant

a person who is legally owned by someone else and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by their master.

Paul introduces himself to be a slave of God.

Culturally, this throws up red flags for one another.

But in the ancient near East slavery was widespread.

Not because a particular people group was being exploited like the 1950/60’s

Some forms of slavery occured because of debt someone couldn’t pay, so they would submit themselves to a master until the debt was paid.

What Paul is communicating here is that Christ has paid His debt for Him, and now Christ is the Lord and Master over Paul’s life.

He’s not saying God is a task master, or a tyrant.

He’s saying that He is a worthy master to serve. He is generous in that He takes our debt onto Himself. Paul willingly submits his life in service to God.

In Christ we are slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6 teaches us that before you repent of your sin and turn to Jesus for salvation, you are a slave to sin.

Nothing you do is good.

People are not inherently good.

We’re inherently bad. We’re sinful and corrupt to the core.

Event our good deeds are corrupted by sin.

Sin is the color blue.

But when God saves us, He reveals to us that our lives have been pardoned/paid for by Christ.

When Jesus died on the cross, He died to satisfy the wrath of God toward sin!

He took our sin onto Himself and traded us for His righteousness.

Jesus paid the debt for us.

When He was raised from the dead, He secured eternal life for those who believe in Him.

He paid our ransom and redeemed us back to Himself.

Now, if you’re a Christian, you are bound to Jesus

You are a slave to His righteousness.

Paul identifies Himself as a joyful slave of God!

I must be about my Master’s work!

God had determined that Paul would suffer for His namesake and take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles

Now Paul is under obligation to do so.

This title communicates humility and characterizes himself as a servant of the Lord.

The gospel calls us to be servants.

Which leads to the next title.

Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ

The word apostle means “someone or something sent”

The Greek word is derived from the verb “to send out”

He was commissioned by Jesus Himself

He was given authority to speak on Jesus’ behalf

The apostles were the leaders of the Church.

They took the gospel directly from the mouth of Jesus and began spreading it to the World.

They were Christ’s messengers, introducing the gospel to the world.

It was a title given to these guys to demonstrate the authority they were given by Jesus.

Many false apostles arose to challenge Paul through his ministry, but he includes this in his letter so that the reader knows that his words mean something.

Paul gives a reason that God would make him a servant apostle (v. 1b)

God does not do things on accident

He’s purposeful, intentional

God’s purpose in making Paul an apostle is for the sake of the faith and knowledge of the elect

God’s purpose in making Paul an apostle is for the sake of the gospel.

Paul’s purpose is not for their morality, or any other action they are to do.

Paul’s purpose is for their faith of the elect and knowledge of the truth.

God’s election and human responsibility go hand in hand.

There’s no contradiction.

The word elect shows that God is divinely in charge of salvation.

Salvation from beginning to end is a work of God.

There is nothing you can do to save yourself from your sin.

You can’t justify yourself.

The Lord is the One who sent His Son

The Lord planned redemption through the cross of Christ

Only through faith in the finished work of Christ can someone be saved!

It is the Lord who gives the faith (Ephesians 2:8 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”)

Yet, all who repent of their sin and believe in Jesus for salvation will be saved.

This should comfort us when we consider mission.

We are on the same mission/purpose as Paul does!

The gospel calls us to be sent servants.

Knowing that God is the one who gives faith to people and saves them, allows us to boldly share the gospel Christ knowing that someone will be saved!

How? Jesus gives us a parable

Mark 4:26–29 ESV

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The man planting the seed is us sharing the gospel. Scattering it to as many people as we can.

But we can’t coerce people into the Kingdom.

We can’t trick someone into being born again.

We don’t twist arms, or give people false assurance of salvation.

We don’t put together eloquent words of philosophy in hopes that it makes sense.

That’s not our job.

Our job is to tell people that the solution to their brokenness is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

My job is to share the dark realities of their sins being taken to the cross

My job is to tell them of the beautiful truth that Jesus was raised from the dead three days later so that if you believe in Him, you can be saved.

Then my job is done.

The man scatters the seed and goes to sleep.

The seed sprout and grows and he knows not how.

The Holy Spirit takes the gospel we tell people, and applies it to their hearts. He makes them come to life in Christ through faith.

Paul would say that we were dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1).

God’s gift is that He makes us alive together with the risen Christ!

Then we come back into the picture when it’s time to reap the harvest. (v. 29)

We disciple people.

We baptize and teach people how to live life with Jesus.

We lead them toward Christlikeness “which accords with godliness” (v. 1.b)

The Lord has invited us into His work!

Not because He needs us

But so that we can be brought into His joy as we see people come to Jesus!

Do you remember who you were before Christ?

Lost, hopeless, self-centered, depressed, dead in your sin.

Jesus has given you a new identity!

We also live in a broken world full of other broken people

These people can only find rest in the gospel.

Our purpose is to take this gospel to them and tell them, “This Jesus changed my life! I’m broken too, but Jesus has made me whole again!”

Through faith in Christ, over time, the Lord leads us into godliness.

Not only is Paul an apostle on purpose, but the faith of Christians is also for a purpose.

Saving faith moves us to a knowledge of the truth which results in a life of godliness

This isn’t holier than thou

This is Christ likeness.

A knowledge of the truth and godliness are intimately connected in Christianity.

The more I know about Jesus, the more I love Jesus.

The more I love Jesus, the more I want to follow Jesus.

The more I follow Jesus, the more I’m like Jesus.

The gospel leads us to true godliness.

Godliness and moralism are not the same thing.

Moralism is a list of rules we live by so that we are seen as a good person and maybe God will accept us.

Most people think that just because they aren’t a bad person, they’ll go to heaven.

This isn’t true.

Heaven isn’t for people who are good.

Heaven is for people who trust in Jesus.

Godliness is being accepted by God and then made to be more like Him.

Moralism is where we try to earn our way to heaven

Godliness is the result of our acceptance by God.

We don’t say, “I act this way so that I can be a child of God”

We say, “I live this way because I am a child of God.

Moralism doesn’t base its identity in Christ, but in our good works, which are garbage.

Godliness places our identity in Jesus alone, and then makes us to live like Him!

I want to be holy because Jesus was holy!

I want to be wise because Jesus was wise!

I want to be pure, because Jesus was pure!

The gospel leads to authentic godliness. Not do-gooding moralism that makes me look down on other people.

The gospel calls us to be sanctified, sent servants.

That’s a big undertaking.

My purpose is to be for other people’s faith and knowledge of the Bible?

I can’t do that!

Take heart.

We are only servants of God because of what Jesus did.

Paul is a radical servant of the Lord, but it must be grounded somewhere.

The gospel is that Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has set us free to to serve Him because we know that He will not let us go!

We are secure in the gospel.

Titus 1:2–3 ESV

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

Everything we have talked about up to this point finds its rest here.

Notice the beautiful chain reaction!

The saving faith of those who belong to God leads to a knowledge of the truth, which will lead to godliness, which is rooted in the hope of eternal life in a God who cannot lie!

What is this hope of eternal life?

Hope is confident certainty and expectation of something that is not yet ours but will be.

Eternal life is the very life of God, bot the quantity (meaning that it is life forever/never ends) and quality (meaning that perfection and glory await those who hope in Christ)

Paul ascribes this promise of eternal life to “God, who never lies!”

Notice how he said that it was “promised before the ages began”

God’s plan of salvation was in place before the world began.

Our brokenness, shame, guilt, and sin was no surprise to God.

Yet, nothing we ever did stopped Jesus from going to the cross and purchasing our redemption.

God promised from eternity past that He would have a redeemed people who would glorify Him forever!

It was “at the proper time”, when the time was right He made His promise come true!

Our salvation was not an afterthought to God!

He sent His Son at the perfect time to die for the ungodly!

His plan of redemption was planned perfectly.

Our security is in Him because nothing

Response

What do we do in light of all of this?

Graceland Church - Dearborn wants to live in Gospel Identity

Everything we do, say, think is through the lenses of Jesus.

We live in community. We work in mission! We worship in devotion.

Amazingly, God has placed His eternal plan of salvation in the hands of people like you and me.

We are called to be sanctified, sent servants, who have been given divine treasure.

Our treasure is the gospel and our mission is to share the treasure with the world.

The message we preach is not our word, but it’s His Word.

This is for every Christian to be a part of .

This is our calling. Our command. Our commitment.

We preach His Word, not ours.

We preach His gospel, not another gospel.

There may be people who preach the gospel better than me, but no one can preach a better gospel.

We are saved by God, sanctified by God, and sent by God to go see broken people made whole, hurting people healed, and dead people live.

If you’re here and you’re not a Christian, that means you.

You can be a Christian today.

Who you are now is not who you have to be!

You can have a new identity in Christ today!

The Lord has sent His Son to die on a cross to pay for your sin so that you can be forgiven and brought into the family.

No matter what evil you’ve done, how you did it, or who you did it with.

No matter what good you’ve done, how you did it, or who you did it with.

Our entire lives are identified in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ.