Your Potential In Christ

(Previous Sermon: Abundant Purpose)

INTRO

Uses for things most people are unaware of:

Shapes of screwdriver handles (Not just for grip, but for getting a wrench in place for extra torque)

Bottom Drawer of most ovens (not really for storage, but for warming)

Pop tabs for soda cans (straw holder)

Rivets in Jeans (not really a fashion accessory, but reinforces stress points for durability)

Bubble baths were invented not so much for extra cleanliness and fun but to insulate the water and keep it warmer longer

Hole in the middle of spaghetti spoons

The bottom ridges on most ceramic or stone plates are designed not for stacking or grip on the table, but for honing knife blades

When you learn about and know designed purposes, it makes a big difference and unlocks new potential!

All of us exist for a purpose. Our existence is not a randomized fluke in space and time. It is not by chance that we exist. It is intentional and by design.

Who you are, your personality, your talents, your passions, etc. are all intentional.

This morning, I want to look at the potential God has given you through Jesus.

Titus 2:11–14 ESV

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.

1) Your Potential to KNOW HIM! (v.11)

Titus 2:11 ESV

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

God has graciously made a way for you to know Him!

Think about this…The Creator of the universe (who is all powerful, all present, and all knowing…who knows you better than you know you…) has made Himself known to you and wants you to know Him!

God has made His grace known to you.

God has made salvation available to you.

Not salvation merely from hell…but salvation from sin!

Not salvation to experience in the future…but salvation to experience now!

Eternal life isn’t merely beyond this life…it is living the eternal life beginning the moment you are born again in Christ!

Living the eternal life grows within us as we draw nearer to Him and grow in our fellowship with Him.

You have the potential to know Him far beyond you could imagine, “for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…”

2) Your Potential to Be SET APART! (v. 12)

Titus 2:12 ESV

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

God’s grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions

This is a growing spot in our lives, but the potential is there!

Training is not an easy task, but it is a rewarding one.

It takes time, intentionality, commitment, and perseverance to train and to take on new characteristics.

Our nature before Christ is to embrace and sometimes even build our lives around worldly, temporal, self-centered pursuits.

But the grace of God allows us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.

You have the potential to grow and mature in a faith in Christ to renounce these things.

The word renounce here means to “deny, disown, repudiate, refuse to agree, refuse to consent to, disregard and pay no attention to, refuse to follow”

It is the word ἀρνέομαι (arneomai)

In Christ, through God’s grace, you have the potential to reject, refuse to consent to, and to disown ungodliness and worldly passions in your life!

But it takes time, devotion, and training!

As we renounce these things, we embrace living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives…in the present age.

Through God’s grace, as we draw nearer to Him and know Him…as we are trained and grow in our potential to renounce ungodliness, our lives reshape and transform!

We move from being impulsive and driven by emotion…to being self-controlled.

We shift from being one you looks for shortcuts and justifies little white compromises to being one who is truly upright.

We shift from always pursuing empty goals to embracing godly lives.

All of this is not just waiting around hoping we’ll be embracing these things in the age to come…NO! This is for the present age!

You have the potential in Christ, “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age!”

3) Your Potential For HOPE! (v. 13)

Titus 2:13 ESV

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

As you unlock your Potential to Know Him and your Potential to Be Set Apart…your whole focus and drive shifts from this world to the eternal life.

As you leave behind the broken, messed up, temporal things, and start living for the glorious, beautiful, eternal things, you unlock a hope that can never be shaken!

This world no longer seems to get under your skin, because you know your hope isn’t in anything this world has to offer!

You don’t have to fret when this world seems like it falling apart…

You don’t have to stress when your health and body are failing…

You don’t have to crumble when unexpected hardship drops right in the middle of your life…

Why? Because your hope is not in your circumstances…your hope is our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!

We continue to unlock our potential in knowing Him and being set apart unto Him in anticipation for His glorious appearing!

The more we think about how great and glorious that will be, the more our hope grows and builds stronger and stronger!

The waiting doesn’t build anxiety…it builds anticipation! …it builds excitement! …it builds hope!

If you get to a place in life, where you feel like hope is fading, check the object of your hope and make sure your truly placing your hope in Christ!

In Him your Potential for Hope is unlimited because He is our great and glorious God and Savior!

4) Your Potential To DO GOOD! (v. 14)

Titus 2:14 ESV

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.

Our potential to Know to Him is vast…our potential to be set apart in our character and identity is immense…our potential for hope is limitless…and in Christ, all of these things add up for the potential to impact others through good works in our lives!

“Good” works are defined as good by God…not by this world.

Our world right now is masterful at manipulating people through a false sense of good works.

There is a toxic empathy that is being used to manipulate people to avoid true godliness and embrace a perverted social gospel.

The good works that God’s people are to be zealous for are the works that He deems to be good…

It is those things that are eternal in nature…

…those things which seek to help people see God has potential for them also.

…those things which seek to call people unlock the potential God has for them through Jesus.

As we know God, and are set apart by God, we will also grow in our understanding of that which is truly good!

We will also grow in our passion and zeal for these good works.

Doing the good works of God isn’t a “have to” thing…it’s a “get to” thing!

When we are passionate about doing good, we don’t just dabble in it to meet some minimum obligation…

No way! We want to be all in and go all out in the good works that glorify God!

It’s not just what you do, but also how you do it!

Someone who does good, God-honoring things, but does it while always complaining, being negative, and critical doesn’t show much passion.

In Christ, our Potential to passionately and zealously do good works for the sake of making Him known to others is inspirational!

CLOSING

Are you recognizing your full potential in Christ?

Our enemy wants to keep you distracted on all the ways you’re failing…

Stop focusing on your past and focus on your potential!

In Christ you have the potential to Know Him…to be set apart by Him…

…You have a potential for limitless hope and the potential to glorify Him zealously through good works He has established for you.

Why not commit yourself today to letting the Spirit of God unlock the potential He has for you?