Life between two Epiphanies

Introduction

Introduction: I’ve been thinking about how to greet you all on this first Sunday of the New Year 2021 and here’s what I have come up with — In the name of our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ — Let’s live this Life! This life, as the title of my sermon suggests is a “life between two Epiphanies.” And by now some of you, apart from being quite unimpressed with my simple greeting, are probably asking “what in the world is an epiphany” - especially with all the talk of viruses and vaccinnations that we have been saturated with in the past year, you might wonder if it is something we inject ourselves with when we have allergic reactions —- No! that would be an EpiPen! Unless you have grown up in a more traditional church setting, you probably haven’t heard or used the term Epiphany in the way it has been used in the Bible and throughout church history. And as strange as it sounds, an Epiphany is a wonderful thing and getting caught between two Epiphanies is not something scary like when you are sitting on a skytrain or bus between two rough looking strangers and just want to find a way to get out from there. That is probably how we are feeling these days, caught between some really scary events and being pressed from all sides and suffocated in this pressure cooker kind of world we are living in. No, an Epiphany is not something scary like that. In fact the church like this word so much that the 12 days of Christmas end with the feast of Epiphany on January 6th which makes today Epiphany sunday. But you are probably going — you still haven’t told us what an Epiphany is. The English word has come down from the Greek which means “manifestation or appearance.” Jesus Christ was God-manifest — and so His birth and the events around it have been celebrated as the feast of Epiphany.

Some church traditions remember - Visit of the Magi (Matt 2:1-12) which reveals Jesus to be the King of Kings to whom all nations will come, and

some traditions remember the Baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:21-22) which reveals Him to be the Beloved Son who fulfills the Father’s will,

and another tradition remembers the first miracle in John’s Gospel when Jesus turned the water into win at Cana of Galillee, demonstrating that He is the LORD of creation who also ushers in the new creation. In all three instances, Jesus is the manifestation of God. During this season of Epiphany, which does on until the beginning of Lent, the church has focussed on the mission and ministry of Jesus and our call to manifest Jesus to the world. Can you see why this word is actually a very exciting word and so living between two Epiphanes must be something very good — As Christians, we are not simply waiting for an exit from this scary world — but rather we live in a different story — a story that is bookended by two Epiphanies — both which we discover in Titus 2:11-14.

Two Epiphanies: We don’t know what 2021 holds for us — maybe it will be better or worse that 2020. I am not saying this out of pessimism or careless apathy — but in reality — we really don’t know — just as we did not know at the start of 2020 or for that matter for any year or month or even day — but what we do know is that regardless of who or what makes its appearance the stage of human history, good, bad or ugly — the two epiphanies or appearance mentioned in Titus 2:11-14 and which capture the vision of the New Testament, re-evaluates the past, re-aligns our present and re-defines our future.

Paul has just finished giving some ethical instructions to Titus for the church in that tiny island of Crete which was notorious for ungodly behaviour and then he launches into this eloquent paragraph, which is considered by some the theological high point of the letter to Titus. Here is given the theological rationale for why and how we should live as Christians in this world but with a mindset reframed by the two epiphanies.

Titus 2:11–14 NRSV

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, 12 training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

The first epiphany is mentioned in vs 11 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all… The greek word for appeared is Epephane (verb form). The second is mentioned in vs 13 - While we wait for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The greek word for manifestation is Epiphaneian (noun form). The first Epiphany is of grace, the second is of Glory. When Paul talks about these two Epiphanies, he is referring to specific events in History. Something has happened in history by which the “Grace of God,” — the favor and goodwill of God towards undeserving humanity, has made an appearance in a way like never before. This appearance of grace has created a new situation for fallen sinful humanity — because this appearance of grace has brought salvation to all. It doesn’t mean all people are saved — but rather that all have been offered salvation. How did this grace appear — It appeared in the Bethlehem when God took on flesh and blood and became a baby, Jesus Christ, the Savior.

John’s Gospel puts it this way:

John 1:14 NRSV

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

We can therefore replace that word “Grace of God” with Jesus — and read “For Jesus has appeared, bringing salvation to all.” The second appearing in vs 13 makes a closer connection with Jesus — we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The first appearance of Christ is grace and the second appearing is of glory — and it is in between these two Epiphanies that we find ourselves — Rather than being pressed from all sides by scary and strange events — we are held or bodyguarded by the grace and the glory of God — isn’t that exciting?

Life between Epiphanies: Contrary to the view that being a Christian is just a ticket to heaven and that our life our earth doesn’t really matter much — the Bible actually puts a great deal of emphasis of how we live here and now. Yes, it’s true that this is not all there is, and we have an eternal hope of glory when Christ appears again on the stage of world history — but meanwhile, we are called as vs 12 says

Titus 2:12 NRSV

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

“in the present age to live lives” — It is in this present age — this age of tension between the now and the not yet, between the in-breaking of the kindgom and the kingdom coming in it’s fullness, between the defeat of sin, satan and death on the cross and the final removal of these evils from God’s new creation — that we live our lives. We know that this present age is still marked by suffering and the evils that one day will be forever removed. However, living between two Epiphanies, this present age is also marked by the results of the first Epiphany - of Christ’s incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension. It is also marked by the anticipation of the second Epiphany. This is an age of grace anticipating glory. Look at what has resulted as a result of Grace appearing.

Age of Salvation: As I already mentioned — God’s salvation has been offered to all — no one who hears the Gospel of Jesus needs to wonder “How can I get saved”? “Who can forgive my sins”? “What is the path to God?” “What is my future hope?” — The Gospel declares that God has made a way through Christ — in vs 13-14 when Paul talks about Christ’s future appearing, he also looks back again and says “He it is who gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.” We’ll come back to that verse again at the end. But we can see here that this present age is now marked with Christ’s work of salvation taking effect in people’s lives.

Age of Christ-like Formation: Not only are we saved by grace - which means we really do not contribute anything to our salvation — it is all God’s doing — but we are also formed by grace into the likeness of Christ.

Titus 2:12 NRSV

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

vs 12 training us — paideuo— refers to the instruction a child would have through teaching and discipline in order to become a well-rounded citizen in the ancient world — Grace educates us — it gives us the power to renounce impiety and worldly passions and then live lives that are marked by three qualities — self-control, upright and godly. To renounce is to reject or say no — It is grace that teaches us to say no to things that take us away from our focus on God and the distractions of a fallen world that rob us from true life - just existing in this world without the knowledge of God, or without acknowledging God and by giving in to every strong desire that rises up within us even if it is destructive to us and others we ended up “unliving” this life — someone has said “destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life” — it is possible to go through life and not really live it. What does it mean to truly live? Well, it’s not just saying no in terms of renunication of evil - but also saying yes — yes to the postive work of this grace training in our lives that is described in the set of three qualities in vs 12 — This is what life in the present age is to be marked by — lives that are self-controlledUprightGodly — (this the opposite of the impiety that we are called to renounce)

As Christians we often do not give much attention to this work of spiritual formation that God wants to do in our lives — we want to rush to the glory — but the path from grace to glory goes through the furnace of transformation! The word used for self control can refer to being sensible or wisdom, upright can also mean righteous or rightly, and godly can be pious or showing proper respect and reverance for God — the word pious or religious is not a bad word —- we often make it seem that religious is to do with empty rituals but piety or even religious can be taken in the best sense of those words which is to live in reverance before God — you see this triad of wisdom, righteousness and godliness gives in a summary form the kind of life that grace produces in us. Life between the two epihanies is not a drudgery, trying to somehow make it from day to day, month to month, year to year — but living well — growing in wisdom, in right-relatedness, and in love and reverance to God — as one scholar puts it : “Life is far more than biological, psychological, and social functioning. Life is the popping and sizzling, loving and joyful being-in-relationship with God, with one another, and with creation.” This is why I said at the beginning, Let’s live this Life! If you are into making resolutions — let us make this resolution — to live lives that reflect the transformative power of God’s grace — Life lived “in Christ” here and now — even as we wait, as we look forward to another glorious Epiphany of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Life in Christ: There is no other kind of life for a Christian — in fact, there is no other kind of true life —

John 1:4 NRSV

4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

In Him was life, says John 1:4, and the life was the light for all people. Unless and until one comes to the light of Jesus Christ, we have not experienced life in all its fullness. Mentioned that we will look again at vs 14 at the end — vs 14 is a beautiful verse that tells us why we can say that the Grace mentioned in vs 11 is not simply some theological concept,but is a person - the person of Jesus Christ.

Titus 2:14 NRSV

14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

vs 14 - He it is who gave Himself for us — This great God revealed in Christ is one who is self-giving. God didn’t just send some blessings via a divine courier service — but He gave Himself for us — that He might redeem us — or liberate — like liberating a captured person by paying a price — God paid the highest cost to free us from all iniquity — the lawless nature of fallen humanity that held every person bound — Jesus has freed us from that prison — and moreover —it says — to purify for Himself, notice the number of times the pronouns referring to Christ are used here — gave Himself for us, for Himself, and again, a people of His own — Paul cannot make it any clearer that the freedom and cleansing that comes through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was to re-establish us into God’s family as His own people, belonging to Him - even the gentile believers from crete — whom Paul says were considered as “liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons” — even they are now in corporated into the people of God who are zealous for good deeds. The worst sinner has an oppotunity to turn from “unliving” and start “living” and “living well” because all our stories, regardless of where we come from in terms of geography, culture, upbringing, family history, personal history — regardless of race, sex, language, education, status — are now caught up in the bigger story of God’s redeeming grace that accompanies us towards glory — This is extreme grace — no wonder Paul says that such people are zealous for good deeds — The word zealous in greek Zeloten is a fervant and even militant proponent of something — one of the extremist groups in the first century were the zealots — but what Paul is calling for is not that kind of extremism which is destructive but rather being extreme in terms of our desire to live this life in the power and grace of God. Christ has gone to the extreme to show us the love of God — Grace itself is a kind of extreme — and any good that we do is a product of this grace we have received. This passage is not saying you are saved by grace but perfected by good deeds. Rather, it is grace from beginning to end. It is life lived in Christ from beginning to end. This makes life between the two epiphanies exciting adventure with Jesus. We don’t know what 2021 will bring, we don’t know what will happen on the stage of world history when we look back at this year on Dec 31, but we do know that Jesus Christ, the LORD of history is with us, the Holy Spirit of God is at work in our lives and God’s work of transformation will continue in this world — and we are invited to participate in it.

Let us make this first Sunday morning a time of dedicating our lives to Christ.

Dedication: For those who have never done so before, maybe it is the first time to dedicate your lives to Christ. Whoever you are God knows — God knows the doubts and fears, the struggles and failures, the pain and sorrow — and yet God’s loving favor, His extreme grace is reaching out to us this morning. Have you truly come to Jesus and received the grace of God, His loving favor that pardons your sins and accepts you as His child?

Rededication: For those of us who profess faith in Christ and have committed ourselves to Him and for His cause, are we continuing to depend on Christ? Are we being filled with His Spirit and living lives that are marked by wisdom, right-relatedness, and reverence towards God? What is God calling us to say no to in this new year — what is He calling us to say yes to? What areas are we “unliving” our calling? What are areas of temptation, areas of challenge? Where is God calling us to rise up and “let our light shine”?

Thrive not just survive: From the beginning of the pandemic, I have been convinced that God doesn’t want us just to survive, but to thrive in the midst of adverse circumstances. God wants us to live in this world, in this present age — Christianity is not escapism but praying “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” - here on earth, in this life while we are alive, we live life to the glory of God — as we live between grace and glory! All thriving is only a result of God’s grace in our lives — may you experience that powerful and amazing grace — deep inside of you, in your relationships with others, at home, at work, in society, in all the work God calls you, small and big, significant and seemingly insignificant, in your waking and sleeping moments, in your commuting through traffic, in your studies, all assignments and exams, in job applications and interviews, in meeting with friends and encountering strangers, in everything — may you know that you are living between two epiphanies — the one fortifies you in this life and the other that we look forward to impinges on this present world and draws us towards glory! Let us live this life empowered by grace and for the glory of God! And I think now I can say - Happy New Year!