Unshakable: Titus 3:3-15

· Welcome

o Nice to be back

o Hope all having a great night

o Always awesome to spend tie in fellowship and communion

§ Especially with Easter a week ago

o Landing our series on Titus today

· We have seen

o Paul instruct Titus

§ How to raise up leaders in the church

§ How to train up men, women, children

· Now we are turning inward

o Paul is now instructing Titus how to conduct himself

o And to teach others how to conduct themselves

o Paul reminds Titus, and the Readers

§ Their humble beginnings

§ And their salvation and gift of the Spirit

o Paul states:

§ “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

§ He reminds Titus of the type of people he is ministering to

· Also who Titus was before his conversion

· These people come from a place of

o Disobedience

o Foolishness

o Deception

o Slavery to passions

§ As believers it is hard to remember those new to the faith or non-believers have not shed their own skin and put on the new skin

· Paul is reminding Titus of this fact and not belittling him or patronizing him

· Paul is reminding Titus of the promise that Jesus made when he ascended

o Sending a helper

· This is something we all experience at a worship service

o The reminding of what Jesus and God did for humanity

· Paul is telling Titus how to interact with all his interactions

o Conversion experiences

o Conversations

o Mundane daily activity

o Preaching

· He is telling Titus to be patient and provide the people of Crete the same grace God gives to the people he is ministering to

o Think of your own interactions with your friends who don’t go to church.

§ How often do you see them falling victim to

· Disobedience

· Foolishness

· Deception

· Being slaves to passions

o Think about yourself

§ How often do you find yourself tempted and having to remind yourself to combat it?

· Sometimes we need to be reminded how to respond to temptation and the world

· We need to remember and be reminded of returning God’s grace to others and ourselves

· Major important highlight in this passage

o “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

o Because of his MERCY

§ NOT THE THINGS WE HAVE DONE

o This is the single most important factor of the Gospel

§ Yet we need to be reminded of it constantly

§ We are given salvation no matter

·  how many baby birds we nurse to health

· how many doors we hold open for people

· how many cups of coffee or hot chocolate we serve at a service

· how often we bring others to church with us.

§ We accept Christ as our lord and savior and

· BOOM

o We are saved

· Sometimes this is hard to remember in the way society is with the social credit system that we live in

o Do good things, get more points, have better stauts

o We in turn then project this social credit system into our faith

§ Do good works, get more gems in our crown in heaven, better salvation

· Paul continues

o “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

§ Profitable for EVERYONE

· Not just believers

· Not just those who do ministry

· EVERYONE

§ Doing what is good is a byproduct of our faith

· We do good things because of the Holy Spirit

o Who was poured out on us through baptism

§ This baptism is what Paul was talking about when he said

· washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit

· We accept Christ into our lives and then the Spirit enters our hearts and gives us this rebirth and renewal

§ This baptism is different than what we see at Services

· Not the public declaration and dunking in water

· This baptism is personal and internal

o We learned this in our Romans series that this baptism relates to the death and resurrection of Christ

§ The death of self

§ Rebirth in Christ

§ This baptism is the catalyst, the prime reason, that we strive to do good

· Now you can be thinking, Dan……

o so you’re saying that if I haven’t accepted Christ into my life I cannot do good things?

§ No, you can most certainly do good things.

§ But the baptism of the Spirit and remembering our salvation story gives us the unconscious drive to do good things

§  The reaction to doing bad things are more profound and in your face. The justification of “The world is just this way so I have to conform” goes out the window.

· Paul continues

o “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.”

o Paul changes gears here

§ He is telling Titus how to not interact with people

§ This instruction from Paul is essential for us today

· We need to avoid arguments and foolish things

· A majority of your and my arguments that are had today could be considered foolish. I know mine are at least. Usually when I end an argument with someone and look back on it a day or so later, I am like…. Wow…. That was stupid and pointless.

o  I remember that I had an argument just the other week with my employee. We were arguing about the way and time that a delivery comes in for certain items that we sell. He saw it one way and I saw it another. It got heated and our voices got raised. He cursed at me and I slammed my fist onto a table. It was unnecessary and we walked away with some resentment. Eventually the order came in just as I said it would and I chose not to say anything and gave a smug look. He came over and was like I guess you were right. I couldn’t help myself, I said “you think I would know when things come in as I am the owner” and he replied “yeah my bad.” I felt as if I won in the moment.

o Looking back I saw I was

§  foolish

§ childish

§ doing the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do

§ not honoring God with my actions

o James1:19-20 gives us more instruction on how to act

§ “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

§ I was doing the exact opposite

§ I was being self-condemning and selfish

· Paul goes on to say

o “Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.”

§ This is the crux of what Paul is saying

· We are wired for Community

· We are wired to help each other

· In our broken state we need to learn how to devote ourselves to being Good

o Things that are bad are easy to fall into

§ Gossip

§ Lying

§ Cheating

§ stealing

o Things that are good take effort

§ This effort comes from within

· When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and have it dwelling inside of us we have an agent of Good working with us.

· The Spirit is what drives us towards the Good.

· When we do bad things we actively ignore the workings of the Spirit within us.

· When we IGNORE the workings of the Spirit within us we fall into the category of what Paul called the Cretans in the first chapter.

o Paul said

§ “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”

o When we ignore the actions of the Spirit within our hearts we claim to know God, but yet deny him with our actions. We become detestable and disobedient.

o We certainly are unfit to do anything good.

· Good actions that are righteous to God

o Do not come with anything in return

o Do not come with the expectation of anything in return

§  I don’t hold a door open for others to be praised by them. I do it because I want to make their lives easier.

§ I don’t go out of my way to help others when I see them struggling because I think the News cameras will be rolling and I will be hailed as a hero. NO! I do it because it is the right thing to do for others.

· God did not come to earth in the form of a man, serve the world and those he interacted with, die on a cross, and be raised from the dead just for me to be selfish in my action and deeds that I do. God did not send his Spirit into my heart just for me to ignore it and become a hypocrite. God sent the Holy Spirit to us to be a helper, an advocate, a agent of love and righteousness within our hearts.

o We were saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection for two reasons.

§ we can be in right standing with God and have relationship with him in eternity after our death

· Why we celebrate not having a fear of death

§ to be a beacon of Goodness and righteousness in the world

· saved to do good things for others and model Christ to the entire world

o to fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations we not only have to spread the Gospel message, we have to live the Gospel message.

§ We live out that message by doing good things

· Paul gives Titus a practical way to model this to those he is ministering to

o “Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.”

§ Giving them anything that they need is showing the community that Titus is preaching to how they should act.

· As Christians we need to practice what we preach.

· We need to live out the actions that we claim to do.

· We need to be like those who have come before us, those who have sacrificed themselves doing good things for others.

· It is easy to do good things when I am looking over my shoulder looking to see who saw me doing the good.

·  It is easy for me to do good things when I get something in return for it.  

· But when I let the spirit lead in my life the good things just flow out of me.

o  I am going to challenge you to let the spirit lead your life.

§ Journal, reflect on your day each night.

·  See the things you are doing that are good without even thinking about them.

· See the things you are doing good with premeditated thought of what you will get out of it.

· See the bad things you are doing without even thinking about it.

· See the bad things you are doing with the premeditated thought of how you can get away with it.

· Pray to God to open your heart and ears to hear the Spirit.

· Pray for the strength that God can provide to listen to the Spirit.

o Live your life how Paul urges Titus to live.

· Will you pray with me?

· Father God, You are a good and great God. We thank you for the gift of the Spirit. We thank you for the gift of salvation. We thank you for the charge to make disciples of all peoples. I pray for your strength God. The same strength that you gave Paul, Titus, Peter, and Christ. I pray that you can send that strength to these students daily. I pray that you can send this strength to these leaders and volunteers daily. I pray that all the students can feel the Spirit within them and listen. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear LORD. Give these students the strength to model Christ to all people they encounter. God I pray that even when these students are struggling your Spirit urges them to do Good. We love you LORD. I pray this all in the powerful name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.