Evangelistic Living Motivated by God’s Mercy
Titus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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PRAY
Intro: Does what you think about reveal who you are as well as shape who you are?
Does right theology matter for right living? Does right theology (how you think about God—how you understand and respond to him) inform how you live?
The Apostle Paul absolutely believes that this is so. In most of his letters, in fact, he sets out the theology, before developing the specific ways that said doctrine should impact our living. In this brief letter to Titus, though, Paul twice follows up an argument for how they should live with the gospel foundation, with the theological motivation that should drive our behavior.
In ch. 1 he argues that the church will be healthy only if it has godly leaders who will hold firmly to and teach sound apostolic doctrine, and he exposes the false teachers who are plaguing Christian households with a false sense of security in religious ritual, in the context of an already debase and ungodly Cretan culture. In chapter two he argues that this godly living in contrast to the false teachers and the culture should not only be a mark of the leadership, but that all members of Christian households and churches, in their God-given roles, must set an example for and teach one another to live lives consistent with the change God has made in us through Christ.
But lest someone should ask: Why should we live differently from the vices of our culture and from the hypocrisy of false teachers? How can we live in a way that displays the true character and intention of our saving God? Paul offers a sweeping overview of the gospel’s sanctifying power to answer this how and why: Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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.
In that gospel foundation, Paul also includes the missional note of God “bringing salvation for all people,” from which he launches in chapter 3 into Christian behavior toward outsiders for promoting the gospel. But once again, what if those whom Titus and the church leaders are teaching should ask: Why should we, and how can we… be zealous for good works not only toward those in the church and in our own households, but also be marked by good deeds toward unbelievers? Why and how will we be submissive in Christlike behavior toward ungodly authorities over us, and why and how will we be positive in our speech toward unbelievers around us, and be peaceable, gentle, and courteous? (Titus 3:1-2)
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
What kind of perspective do we need to live out the gospel we proclaim? Indeed, people must hear the gospel to believe and be saved. But our lives also bear witness that the gospel we proclaim is true. So in these verses Paul indicates that we should be motivated to be good and kind to sinners because of God’s mercy in saving us.
We also learn at v. 8 that this is a kind of saying, something that Paul intends to be repeatable (either from v. 3 or at least the longer sentence beginning at v. 4). It doesn’t seem to be a hymn, because it lacks poetic form, but it is either a saying that has already become tradition or is something that Paul himself has coined as a kind of creedal statement of truth—compact theology in exalted prose.
Again, what seems clear is Paul’s intent to evoke a response (to stimulate, to motivate us by God’s mercy)… to convict us of a wrong view of looking down on sinners, and of making excuses for any bad behavior toward them, and to empower us for gospel living because of God’s saving work applied to us by the Spirit and enabled by the Spirit.
Dwell on God’s mercy as motivation for living mercifully toward those who are still as we once were.
Dwell on God’s mercy as motivation for living mercifully toward those who are still as we once were.
Will we live mercifully, will we do good to those enslaved in sin (as we ourselves were)? We must understand and dwell on the depth of God’s mercy to save us… and dwell on how, by the Spirit, God applied mercy to us and enables mercy in us.
As Paul transitions from Titus instructing the believers’ behavior toward outsiders, he first gives them a critical reminder of where they themselves were before God saved them. From v. 3 we might say that…
To truly appreciate God’s mercy and to show mercy, you must understand what you were—what we all are—outside of His saving grace. (v. 3)
To truly appreciate God’s mercy and to show mercy, you must understand what you were—what we all are—outside of His saving grace. (v. 3)
“For we ourselves were once” - Paul deliberately goes here to remind us of our state when God saved us… not that every person is always sinning in all of these ways all of the time, but that these things characterize our life and situation when we don’t know him through faith in Christ.
Paul puts 6 or 7 things in this list, depending on how you group or ungroup the final phrase. Let’s go through the list to consider the implications of our lost state, and the depth of God’s mercy, and how this should make us merciful to those in that same condition even now:
[v. 3] “Foolish” is a word that means to be ignorant, to be uneducated in acknowledging God’s presence and authority, and ignorant in seeking wisdom according to the knowledge of God and command of God.
“Disobedient” is then connected to this foolish ignorance. This was said of the false teachers in Titus 1:16, who do not obey God in spite of professing knowledge of God, which means that obedience to God cannot be tied to merely outward observation of religious ritual. Obedience therefore includes a relationship to God that submits to his authority willingly and in the way that he has said we should obey.
Indeed, also in connection to this ignorance in our sinful state, we are “led astray,” “deceived” (could be another translation). And in that state of deception, those who are misled mislead others. - 2 Tim 3:13 “while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
I love Philip Towner’s astute observation here: “This opening triad of character flaws underlines the helplessness of people outside the sphere of God’s grace.” - Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 776. - And if we were helpless, are not others helpless in their deceived, disobedient, foolish ignorance?
What’s more, without God’s saving grace, without his mercy, we are also “slaves to various passions and pleasures.” In this context, we cannot think of these two enslavers as neutral, these passions and pleasures. Passions that enslave us are sinful cravings and longings and desires because they do not rightly desire within the framework of God’s good design. So too the “pleasures” that enslave us in these NT contexts are sinful pleasures. As 2 Tim 3:4 will say, that in our sinful state we are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” We can only appreciate true enjoyment (pleasure) through the lens of fulfillment in relationship to God. The variety of these insatiable passions and pleasures that enslave us are many (“various”), and because they are insatiable, we only seek after them more and more. But they cannot provide us with sufficient fulfillment.
The final set of sinful character conditions involve our relationships and interactions with others. The first two are the internal poisons that lead to the final pair of active hatred for one another. We “spend our lives” or “pass our days/time” in malice and envy. “Malice” is a wicked, evil intent that arises from the heart and mind that are bent on evil. Recall the connection to the Cretan stereotype: “evil beasts” (Titus 1:12). Such malice is not unique to Crete, but common to us all. And oh, how we are prone to “envy,” which is a jealous and spiteful resentment toward the success and possessions of others.
Where do these lead? We descend into the condition of mutual, outright hatred. Or we could describe the pair like this: that our malice and envy lead others to view us as “despicable” (worthy only of their hatred), and for us to treat them with the same kind of contempt and hatred. Again, because of God’s common grace to mankind and the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in the world (also all due to God’s kindness), we do not always see this hatred manifest in every person in every possible way. And yet, it is not hard to see the overall concluding point as abundantly evident in society at large when its members have no true knowledge of God and clear guidance in walking in obedience to him.
So as we’ve seen, this verse 3 in Paul’s theological thrust moves us to consider, with weight and intensity, that…
To truly appreciate God’s mercy and to show mercy, you must understand what you were—what we all are—outside of His saving grace.
Reflection on what we were not only stirs us by way of remembrance of God’s mercy, but it generates sympathy rather than hostility for those still enslaved to sin. - Have mercy on those who are as you once were. But we do not stop at sympathy, we pursue sinners for Christ. One important aspect of this is to show with our lives the change that God has made in us by the Spirit because of Christ.
Now vv. 4-7 set the mercy of God in saving us against that backdrop of our helplessly sinful condition apart from him.
Dwell on the realization that it was precisely when we were in such sin that God graciously intervened to save us. (vv. 4-5b)
Dwell on the realization that it was precisely when we were in such sin that God graciously intervened to save us. (vv. 4-5b)
[repeat]
[v. 4] “But when…” Here is the shift, God’s intervention is the point of dramatic change in the ‘before… but now’ formula Paul employs, which is not uncommon for him and others in the NT. Here in Titus Paul sets this salvation from God first in its eschatological context, in the point of history where God’s goodness and loving kindness made itself most supremely manifest on earth: through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who in particular “gave himself for us to redeem us… and to purify for himself a people for his own possession” (Titus 2:14).
The person of Christ, and especially the work of his substitutionary cross and resurrection, is the eschatological moment of the “the grace of God [appearing], bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11). But Paul’s intent is to show further how God’s provision in Christ is salvifically applied to us in particular, which motivates our mercy toward others.
So notice too, for the purposes of the point Paul is making about how we treat others, that what appeared through Christ, from God our Savior, was his goodness and loving kindness. The first word is goodness or kindness in the sense of being warmhearted, considerate, humane, gentle, and sympathetic. Wow, does that not go with what we also explained when Paul said in v. 2 that we are to be gentle and considerate toward outsiders? And the second word is philanthropia, a love for mankind that is motivated by a concern to alleviate suffering. Should we not desire to be benevolent and kind toward sinful humans the way that God has been toward us, even if they don’t know they are suffering in sin?
Paul is speaking to those who know the salvation of God as a reality in their lives, as the verses continue to show who the “us” and “we” are, whom the Spirit of God has washed, and to whom justification in Christ has been applied. - Our patience, mercy, and kindness toward unbelievers is precisely because of God’s kindness and love (both to humanity in general, and to us in particular).
[v. 5] “He saved us.” In fact, our English translations put “he saved us” here at the front of the sentence because “saved” is the main verb of the sentence and “us” the main object, but the Greek has the other phrases first, which make it abundantly clear that our salvation is due only to his mercy and not to any righteous works on our part.
The first negative affirmation—“not because of works done by us in righteousness”—puts a seal not only on our sinfulness but also on our incapability, our inability to live righteously worthy of God saving us. There is no merit on our part to God’s saving act. The only merit in salvation is all owing to Jesus, who is God, so all the achievement is God’s.
Therefore, positively, this is all “according to [God’s] own mercy.” And what is mercy? It is leniency and compassion shown toward offenders. Indeed, our rebellious sin of not honoring God as God, and all our sins that follow in the train of this idolatry, is great offense against God. So for God’s grace to appear in the midst of such wickedness, for the perfect Son of God to give himself to save us, this is mercy indeed!
Please notice again that the point of mercy is the very fact that we deserve judgment, that we do not deserve leniency, but that he has still been merciful. That’s what Paul wants us to connect: the mercy of God to us in our sinful state, with us being merciful in our treatment of sinners.
Dwell on God’s mercy as motivation for living mercifully toward those who are still as we once were.
This is evangelistic living, in hopes that as we proclaim the gospel, they might see and understand the truth God has had mercy on us and has changed us into what we now are.
-When we are accustomed to the Pauline emphasis on the importance of responding with faith in God by believing his proof and promise that Jesus is the only Lord who can save, the absence of any statement about faith in here is conspicuous. But Paul undoubtedly assumes this for these who are now believers (among the “we were” but “he saved us”), who are “justified by his grace.” And the point of this passage is to emphasize God’s merciful saving work for which he gets all the credit—Father, Son, and Spirit—and we can’t claim any merit. Thus we should also think mercifully upon the sinner who cannot save himself and believe in the power of God to save and transform them even as he has done to us.
If the Lord tarries, next time we gather together we’ll continue further to Paul’s explanation of how this mercy, how God’s saving grace to us in Christ Jesus, is applied by the Holy Spirit… further evidence that our salvation is by God’s merciful act and not our merit.
[Conclusion]
Will we live mercifully, will we do good to those enslaved in sin? We must understand and dwell on God’s own mercy to save us, and how he applied mercy to us and enables mercy in us by His Spirit.
Be merciful in evangelistic living by dwelling on the full extent of God’s mercy to save you.
Be merciful in evangelistic living by dwelling on the full extent of God’s mercy to save you.
Christian, dwell on these things.(marinate, meditate… pray for God’s help so that you will begin each day soaking in the warmth of God’s saving grace to you, given renewed sight by the light of his mercy on you…)
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
As God gives you renewed clear vision of his mercy, pray also for God to move you to live out his mercy toward others. For example, consider how this teaching from Paul (that we’ve studied today) opens up our eyes in new ways even to the words of Jesus about how we should treat the lost: Luke 6:35-36
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Be merciful even as God’s has shown you such great mercy. Be merciful in evangelistic living, because you know the extent of God’s mercy to save you. We live and proclaim the gospel of Jesus, knowing that if God can mercifully save us, he can (and will) do this for others.
PRAY
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