Titus 2:11-14 (Knox Chapel)

Intro

As Christians, the question of our own works have been the cause of a lot of controversy and debate throughout the ages of our faith tradition. Do our works matter? Don’t they? What role do our works play in our life? Are they like the “cherry on top” of the Christian life, a nice bonus but not necessary?

What do we do about Christians who want to live morally upright lives, but find themselves trapped by the power of sin? As those who are seeking to enter the ministry, or perhaps those who are already engaged in the work of ministry, how do we counsel those brothers and sisters through their struggle? Or better yet, where do we go as ministers when we find ourselves burdened with the weight of our own sin?

Titus 2:11-14 helps us to substantially ground the source of a transformed life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here Paul shows that if anyone seeks salvation from their sin, if anyone seeks to live a godly life and escape their worldly passions, then they need look no further than the grace of God which is to be found in two appearances discussed in our text here.

First; just a brief couple of sentences to provide some context here. Paul is writing this letter to the young pastor Titus, who has maybe his first pastorate at a church plant in Crete. We know that Cretans are described by one of their own prophets as “always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” Yet Paul spends the first 10 verses of chapter 2 in Titus giving charges to all the people of the church in Crete to live morally upright lives — he gives instructions to the older men, older women, younger men, younger women, and bondservants.

Why does Paul expect these liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons to live sober-minded, self-controlled, dignified, reverent, and pure lives? Once more — its not because he has great confidence in Titus as a life coach or a motivator of men; it is because of two appearances in time that have changed everything.

The First Appearance

The grace of God has appeared - Paul begins by looking back at something that has already happened. He says that the grace of God has appeared, and he isn’t simply saying that it was written down in the Scriptures that God is gracious. Paul is referring to a past event in which the grace of God was made manifest in time and space. We know from verses 13 and 14 that Paul is specifically to the appearing 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.

And what has this appearance of grace done? Well first, it has brought salvation for all people. Now Paul here does not mean to say that every single individual has been saved, but that all kinds of people have been saved. What he has in mind with this statement is the verses immediately preceeding this one; that old men, old women, young men, young women, and bondservants have been saved, even those liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons on Crete. In other words, this grace of God that has appeared reaches all kinds of people and nobody is disqualified because of their race, gender, age, or personal past.

And what does this magnificent salvation do? it is training us. Training us for what? Two things: to renounce our past and to live transformed lives. The greek word here behind the english word “training” is “paidouousa,” and since you all remember your Greek, you’ll remember that the root of the verb means “little children.” This Greek verb carries with it the sense of child-rearing, raising our kids up in the way they should go. In other words, the grace of God that saves us also treats us like his little children as he trains us up in newness of life.

The first thing God’s grace trains us to do is to renounce the ungodliness and worldly passions we have so loved in our past. The idea here is that we are disassociating ourselves from our sin, we are shedding our old selves. The things that once defined us no longer do so, and the sinful identity we may have been either proud or ashamed of no longer applies. Since we’re only a little past Good Friday here, I’ll mention that this renounce word is the same one used to describe Peter’s denying (or renouncing) Jesus three times just before his crucifixion. Isn’t it beautiful that the grace of God would take a people who once renounced God himself and train them to be a people who renounce sin and ungodliness in their lives?

But that’s only one half of the training and is insufficient by itself. Just as the grace of God trains us to renounce what was once ours, it also trains us to live lives that we were once incapable of living. The liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons have shed those identifiers by the grace of God and are now being trained to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives here and now in the present age.

The Second Appearance

And all of this training that grace is doing in our lives is while we are waiting for another appearance to happen: the second appearance of Christ on Earth. We are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. While at the first he appeared and manifested the grace of God, when he comes again we will see him in all the fulness of the glory of God. In that day, we will behold no longer a gentle and lowly servant who came to give himself as a sacrifice, but a radiant King who has come to conquer. And in that day, though we should have only fear when we look to ourselves, we now have immense hope because of the salvation that he has wrought. Though the impending judgement coming with Christ’s return ought to be a source of great fear and terror for a sinful people like us, it has become our blessed hope. Because of the appearance of the grace of God, we as a saved people can long for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. In this gospel, we find strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

So my brothers and sisters, are you burdened by the weight of sin? Do you find yourself burdened by lawlessness? Do you have family members who are? members of your church who are? Do you identify with the words of the Psalmist when he says, “my strength is dried up as by the heat of summer”? Do you feel as though your bones are wasting away under the guilt and shame of sin? Are you looking for a way out of this doomed feeling?

What do we do with those who want to live morally upright lives but find themselves burdened by the weight of sin?

Please, look no further than the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this wonderful gospel we behold that the Son of God gave himself up as a sacrifice so that he might redeem us, purify us, train us, and give us a blessed hope for the future; all of this is because the grace of God has appeared and saved us. Behold the grace and glory of Jesus, dwell in his gospel, and revel in the salvation that he has wrought for you.

BIG IDEA: The grace of the Gospel is the only basis by which we can expect see transformation in our lives.