Good Works and God Works

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

During a recent interview, President Donald Trump said one of his motivations to end the war in Ukraine is to try to get into heaven. 

“I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I hear I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole,”

My goal in sharing this quote is not to criticize our President, but only to demonstrate just how confused many people are about what it takes to enter the kingdom of God.

I was certainly one of those people for the first 20 years of my life. Up to that point I assumed that God graded on a curve and that since I wasn’t a murderer or a drug dealer, I probably did enough good things in my life to outweigh the bad and that therefore I would get to heaven some day.

Tension

Today, I know better than that. And I think that most of you do, too. But at the same time I think there is still a lot of confusion, even within the church, about the role of good works in our lives.

Fortunately, the passage that we’ll study this morning may very well be the clearest explanation of the relationship between the requirements for salvation and our good works in the entire Bible. Some of what you’ll hear this morning may sound like a repeat from last week. I’m even going to use some of the same passages that Ryan used last week. But since this is such an important topic, the repetition can’t hurt.

Truth

How many of you like a good sandwich? I know I do. Sandwiches can vary a lot - everything from peanut butter and jelly to a gourmet sandwich like the ones I used to make at my deli. But all sandwiches have something in common. They generally have two pieces of bread with some kind of filling in the middle. And certainly good bread is important, but what really makes a sandwich great is whatever you put between those two pieces of bread.

The passage we’re going to look at this morning is a lot like a sandwich. There are two pieces of bread that bookend the passage. Those bookends are extremely important. But the filling in the middle is what really makes this sandwich great. Before I read that passage I’m going to give you a picture of what this sandwich looks like.

The “bread” of our sandwich has to do with good works. And as we’ll see, good works are essential. We are to be ready to do them and even be devoted to them. But the filling of the sandwich has to do with how God works and, as we’ll see, that is even more important since it is the foundation on which good works are to be built.

With that in mind, go ahead and follow along as I read Titus chapter 3:

Titus 3 ESV

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 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. 8 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. 9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Here is the main idea we’re going to develop from our passage this morning:

Before good works, God works

While my good works might provide the bread for my spiritual sandwich, it is God’s work that is crucial. Without that, all I have is some bread and that’s not a sandwich. And frankly it’s not very useful or fruitful.

I’m going to keep this really simple this morning. I’m going to begin with the three main concepts in this passage that support our main idea. Then I’ll close with what I hope will be some very practical implications for our lives.

THREE FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS

Who I Was: Dead (v. 3)

Let’s look at verse 3 again:

Titus 3:3 ESV

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.

Let’s face it most of us don’t like to think of ourselves like this, do we? But from God’s perspective, that is who I was. That is who Paul was - notice he includes himself by using the pronoun “we”. And that is who you were, too.

Paul makes this very same point in his letter to the church in Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

As if being a slave to sin isn’t bad enough, Paul takes it one step further. He says that we were dead. And if there is one thing I know about a dead person, there is nothing he or she can do to bring themselves back to life.

In the back of the auditorium, we have a defibrillator. In the event that someone was to have a medical emergency here and their heart stopped beating, that device can be used to restart their heart. But I guarantee you that the person whose heart stopped can’t walk back there, pick up the paddles and shock themself. Someone else has to do that to them.

Everyone of us was in that same boat spiritually. We were dead and there was nothing we could do to bring ourselves back to life. That is why it is impossible for any of us to do anything that would earn enough favor with God to allow us to go to heaven or enter His kingdom - not even bringing peace to two warring nations and savings thousands of lives.

That doesn’t sound very hopeful does it? At least not until we get to our next point:

What God Did: He "Re-birthed” Me (vs. 4-7)

God did what I cannot do myself. There are three key words that Paul uses here to describe that process:

He saved me

When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, He made it possible for me to be delivered from spiritual death and slavery to sin.

He regenerated me

The word translated “regeneration” is a compound word that literally means “to be birthed again”. It is the same concept that Jesus shared with Nicodemus in John chapter 3 when He told him he needed to be born again. Since we were all dead spiritually at one time, we need to be “re-birthed” spiritually. And that is something only God can do for us.

He renewed me

The idea here is that God makes me into something new and better than what I was before. it’s the same idea that Paul expresses to the church in Corinth when he writes that in Christ I am a “new creation”.

All three aspects of salvation are clearly 100% God’s work. I bring nothing to the table.

Why would God do that? Certainly not because we deserve it. Paul makes that clear here. It’s not because of anything we do. As we read in verse 5:

...not because of works done by us in righteousness...

God chose to save us simply because it is consistent with who He is. He is good and loving and kind and full of mercy and grace.

All that God requires from us is that we respond to what He has done by putting our faith in that work He has done on our behalf through Jesus. But keep in mind that even the faith to believe and trust is a gift from God, not something we can generate on our own.

What I Am To Do In Response: Good Works (vs. 1-2, 8-14)

When God saves us, He gives a new purpose that goes well beyond just our personal eternal fire insurance. Consistently in the New Testament we find that purpose is to do good works. That’s the bread of our sandwich. Even though the filling is the most important thing, that bread makes our sandwich complete.

That means that although we can never be made right with God or earn favor with Him through our own good works, it is true that our good works are the evidence that we are genuinely disciples of Jesus. That is why I said earlier that...

Before good works, God works

Good works are not only important, they are indispensable in the life of a disciple of Jesus. In this passage Paul begins by telling Titus to teach the people in the church there to “be ready for every good work” and then twice he exhorts the people to “devote themselves to good works”. The verb translated “devote” there is a compound word in Greek that literally means “to stand before”. It conveys the idea of making something the highest priority in one’s life.

Application

So let’s spend our remaining time talking about...

HOW TO DEVOTE MYSELF TO GOOD WORKS

Be saved

I began this morning by sharing President Trump’s take on good works. And I think we would all agree that helping two warring nations reach a peace agreement and saving thousands of lives is a good thing. We live in a world where many people, both Christians and non-Christians are doing things like that that they would consider to be good works. They do that for many reasons - to earn favor with God or with others, to feel good about themselves, and in a lot of cases, out of genuine and compassion for others.

But I would suggest to you that none of those things would fit the definition of the good works Paul is describing in this passage. That is because they aren’t built on the foundation of God’s work of saving us.

Last week Ryan shared these familiar words from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Those verses clearly confirm the idea we discussed earlier that our salvation is all God’s doing.

But how many of you remember the very next verse?

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What Paul is telling us there is that from God’s perspective, good works are the works that God has created us for and prepared for us in advance, not the good works we decide to do on our own. And that little connecting word “for” at the beginning of that verse makes it clear that it is only those who have been saved by faith in Jesus alone are able to engage in those God-ordained good works.

So if you have never placed your faith in Jesus alone as the way to a relationship with God, then that is the first step in living a life that is devoted to doing good works. Paul confirms that idea here in his letter to Titus when he writes:

...so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works...(v. 8)

Notice that the prerequisite for doing good works is to believe in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

For those of you who have made that decision, it means that if you want to do the kind of good works that are pleasing to God, you need to seek His direction, not just pick and choose what you want to do.

Be sensible

I think we would all agree that there is a lot of evil present in this world. Regardless of your political beliefs, it is evil to murder someone who disagrees with you. It is evil to drive your truck into a church and set it on fire and start shooting people. It is evil to kill helpless children - either in a classroom or in the womb. It is evil to engage in sexual immorality of any kind. That’s not my opinion. That’s what the Bible clearly teaches.

So how are we to address that evil in our culture? I think the answer might surprise you.

As we’ve already seen, the first thing we need to do is to remember that at one time we were all engaged in evil and were enemies of God. Every time I think about that, I am humbled. I am also grateful that there were people in my life who didn’t view me as an enemy to be defeated, but as someone that God loved and who needed to be loved into His kingdom. Unfortunately in today’s culture I think that far too often Christians are much more concerned about winning the argument and “defeating” those who hold opposing views than we are about the spiritual condition of those who are not yet part of God’s kingdom. And apparently, that was also true in Crete in the 1st century.

So Paul had to remind the people not to engage in behavior that treated non-Christians as the enemy, things like:

speaking evil of others

quarreling

foolish controversies

dissension

division

And he wrote this letter well before there were any social media platforms.

So if that’s not the right way to confront evil, what is? Good works.

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome give us some important guidance here, especially in chapter 12.

First Paul warns us to abhor evil and hold on to what is good:

Romans 12:9 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

We are to abhor evil, not by returning evil, but by holding to what is good.

Then a few verses later we find this command:

Romans 12:21 ESV

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Once again, we are reminded that the way we overcome evil is not to focus our attention on the evil, but by doing good.

I am convinced that one of Satan’s most effective tools in our culture has been to get Christians so focused on trying to fight back against evil using our own methods and relying on our own strength that we get distracted from what we should be doing instead - good works.

In today’s passage, Paul gives us some clear examples of the kind of good works we should be doing.

He instructs us to be good citizens by being submissive to rulers and authorities. Unless the government requires us to do something that violates clear Scriptural principles, we do good by respecting, obeying and praying for our governmental officials, even when we don’t agree with them.

He also instructs us to be gentle and show perfect courtesy to “all people”, not just the ones we like or agree with. But certainly he can’t mean those who oppose Jesus? Why don’t we hear what Jesus had to say about that:

Matthew 5:38–39 ESV

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

That is exactly how Jesus confronted the evil people who falsely accused Him and sentenced Him to death on a cross.

There is no doubt that when we hold fast to biblical principles, especially those that are not popular in our culture, it may very well cause division. We shouldn’t be surprised at that. Jesus warned us that if the world hates Him, it will also hate His disciples.

But it is also true that as disciples of Jesus, we are not to needlessly go around causing division by engaging in the practices that Paul tells us to avoid here.

Be seeing

I’m going to be very brief on this point because it’s very simple, even though it’s not easy.

Paul exhorted the readers of his letter to “be ready for every good work”. And near the end of the letter, he urges them to help in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.

So how do we do that practically? I love what Henry Blackaby wrote about that in Experiencing God:

When you recognize where God is working, you can join Him in what He is doing. Carefully listening to His voice will anchor you in His plan and set you free to live it with boldness and freedom. Then you will experience God doing through you what only He can do.

In other words, make sure that you’re in tune with God by reading His Word and praying and being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is how we discern when good works are the ones God has for us or if they are the ones of our own making. And then once we’ve done that, we keep our eyes open for the opportunities God will give us to do good works for others.

Action

We’ve seen this morning that...

Before good works, God works

While we can never be saved be bay any works that we do, doing good works in our homes, our workplaces and our community is an indispensable part of being a disciple of Jesus.

I am convinced that every single one of us here this morning needs to take some kind of concrete action in response to the message today:

If you’ve never responded to God’s work on your behalf by putting your faith in Jesus alone, then you must do that today. Please don’t wait because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. If you’re not sure exactly how to do that or what it entails, please se me or Ryan and we’ll be happy to walk you through that process.

Some of you need to repent because you have engaged in some of the behaviors that Paul exhorts us to avoid in this passage. You need to confess that to God and then take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that doesn’t become a lifestyle.

Finally, I am convinced that all of us can do a better job of being tuned into the guidance of the Holy Spirit and being aware of opportunities to do good works in the lives of the people God brings into our lives. So in just a moment when I close and we pray, will you pray for God to give you at least one opportunity to do good today? And then will you be ready to act when that opportunity occurs?

Inspiration

Before good works, God works

God has done for us what we could never do on our own - he saved us and made us alive spiritually and transformed us into new creations. And in return, He has commanded us and equipped us to fight evil in this world, not by using the weapons of this world , but rather by doing the good works, He has prepared in advance for us to do.

When the church figures this out and puts it into practice, there is no limit to the number of hearts that will be changed and the amount of evil that will be overcome by good.