Grace Works

1:32Thomas Lewis Johnson was born into slavery in Virginia in 1836. His father was a free man who attempted to buy both his and his mother's freedom, but sadly he died before he was able to accomplish that. Over the next 18 years, Johnson endured all of the brutal realities of slavery in America. 14-hour workdays in tobacco fields, brutal beatings, perhaps worst of all, the indignities of being treated like property rather than being treated as a human being who is made in the image of God.

2:12But when Johnson was 21, something amazing happened. God saved him. And although prior to that, he thought of running away every single day to find freedom, he now, thanks to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, had a freedom that couldn't be found in running away. He was eternally grateful. After the Civil War, thankfully, Johnson was living as a free man in Chicago, where he served at a local Baptist church before becoming a pastor in Denver.

2:42And although he really loved both of those churches, his heart was set on preaching the gospel in Africa. And through a series of extraordinary circumstances, Johnson was invited to be a student at Charles Spurgeon's Pastor's College in London. He went there with a view toward being commissioned as a A missionary to Cameroon. And in 1878, the Johnsons, both Thomas and his wife Henrietta, along with another couple, the Richardsons, traveled to Africa. And after just nine months of ministry, they saw God do amazing things, including the king of Bakunda coming to faith in Christ.

3:19However, in July of that same year, both of the Johnsons became very ill with a fever, and Henrietta died. This was a crushing loss for Thomas, and just a short time later, he would end up leaving Africa and then for the rest of his life overseeing mission work in both England and America to the continent of Africa. Now, you might wonder, why would a former slave, one who had finally been set free after all of those torturous years, why would he risk so much and lose so much to take the gospel to Africa as a missionary?

4:00Well, friends, the answer is the amazing grace of God, which radically changed his life. He understood from the moment that he was converted that he was not just saved from something, from the terrible consequences of his sin, but he was saved for something to pour out his life in good works for seeking the salvation of the lost. And Johnson's life is a challenge to us, reminding us that those of us who have been Saved by the grace of God, that we've not just been saved from something, but for something, that we are called to put our faith into action.

4:37And so, friends, today we're going to be wrapping up this letter to Titus, where Paul is going to remind him once again that our lives, how we live, must be informed by what we believe about Jesus and his amazing gospel. And so, what we'll see today through this passage is that by God's grace, we've been saved from bad works for good works. So, let's take a look now together at verse 1. Paul begins this final chapter and he says, Remind them.

5:12Remind them. You see, the believers in Crete were no different than you and me. These were a forgetful people, just like us, who needed constant reminders of how they were called to live in light of the gospel. And this is particularly important because the Cretans had a reputation for immorality, and they were very, very unhappy about the Roman occupation. Their island was conquered by Rome in 67 BC, and so they'd been in a bad mood for about seven decades at this point. They never liked that.

5:44And so, the way that they related to government officials in particular was just not godly. It wasn't healthy. It wasn't becoming of people who had been saved by the grace of God. And so, he's got to give them these reminders, and he starts off with this one. First, remind them to be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities. Remind them to be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities. Well, see, in the first century, Roman soldiers who served as police officers in the areas that they had conquered and Roman tax collectors often abused their power.

6:24They basically did whatever they wanted to do. And you see this in the Gospel of Luke chapter 3. Here's an interaction with John the Baptist. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, Collect no more than you are authorized to do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.

6:59So you can see from what John the Baptist is telling these people, these tax collectors and soldiers who had their hearts changed by God, how should we now live? He has to tell them, look, you need to stop stealing from people. You need to stop extorting money from people. You need to stop abusing your power because that was so commonplace in the first century. Now, some people today find it very difficult to be submissive and obedient to law enforcement.

7:25And I think particularly of our African-American brothers and sisters. Who have often been unjustly profiled or arrested, even killed by law enforcement without cause. And you see, believers in the first century could relate because they often had their time, their money, even their dignity unjustly taken from them by these same types of people. And friends, other people today find it difficult to submit to government officials. Some of you found it exceptionally difficult to submit to President Obama. Others today find it difficult to submit to President Trump, maybe state and local leaders.

8:06But of course, believers in the first century had it even worse than we have it. They were being ruled by people like Emperor Nero, who put Christians to death for their faith. And so my point is simply this. It's always been difficult for Christians to submit to and obey government officials. That's not a new thing in the 21st century. It's always been difficult. And sometimes that's because government officials, what they're doing, is sinful and wrong. Other times it's not sinful and wrong. It's just that you disagree with their policies. You disagree with the way that they're governing the country. But as Christians, as long as those governing officials aren't asking us to go against the word of God, then our call is to submit to and obey them. In the best case scenario, government officials are promoting peace and justice.

8:57And in the worst case scenario, at the very Least when they're not doing those things, it's an occasion for our sanctification. It's an occasion for us to point to the hope that we have in Christ, that this world is not our home. And so he says, first, remind them to be submissive and obedient to governing officials. Now, look at what he says next. Second, remind them to be ready for every good work. Now, this is the first of three times that this phrase appears in this chapter alone.

9:27And you think back to chapter 2, verse 14, you can look there again. It says, Jesus gave himself for us to purify a people for himself who are what? zealous for every good work. Well, I think in the 21st century, especially in America, we have the zeal part down. We have good thoughts about good works. We like them. We share pictures on Instagram and we share articles on Facebook of people doing good works. We have lots of zeal. I just don't know that we are ready for every good work, as Paul tells Titus that we are called to be here in this passage. I think that if we're honest, we would say, no, I'm not ready for every good work. And that might be because we don't have a plan. We just don't have a plan to be involved in every good work. So, for example, the scripture calls us to love our neighbors. We all know that. We're commanded to love our neighbors. The problem for Most of us, if we're honest, we don't even know our neighbors. It's like the garage door is closing, and you're like, hey, Tom, how's it going? His wife walks up to him and is like, Dan, why does he always call you Tom?

10:44We don't even know our neighbors. And so, step one would be getting to know them. We can't be ready for every good work. We can't be ready to do those good things to our neighbors if we don't even know who they are. And so, just start off with a simple step. Just acknowledge the problem. I know that none of us know each other's names. It's awkward. We're going to have a party in our front yard, bring something to eat, bring a lawn chair, we're going to get to know each other. Right? Can somebody just take the initiative and just say what's true? Hey, buddy. Hey, girl, good to see you. We're all doing that all the time. Why don't we just acknowledge it and be ready for every good work by starting to get to know them?

11:23What about serving the poor? We know we're commanded to serve the poor in Scripture. That's not a mystery to any of us. But I think for a lot of us, we say, well, the poor ask me for money, and I don't want to give them money because I don't know if they're going to spend it on drugs or alcohol. Well, fine, but then we need to have a plan to be ready for every good work. So, what if we just went to the store and we bought some non-perishable snacks and bottles of water, got on Amazon, you purchased a bunch of New Testaments, and you just assembled some grocery sacks that you put in your trunk. And so, when somebody comes up to you and says, I'm hungry. Can you spare a few dollars? You're actually ready for every good work. You've got some food. You've got some drinks. You've got the word of God to give them. We can be ready for every good work. In fact, we have these very things here in the building because we have people come in our office all the time and ask for those things. So we want to be ready for every good work. That's what we're commanded to do as Christians. And then finally, look here. He says, remind them to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy to all people.

12:33Now, that's listed in contrast to speaking evil of them or quarreling with them. And friends, we need this reminder so badly here in 21st-century America. I mean, speaking evil of others, especially of government officials, has become so commonplace that I think we've just grown hardened to it. I mean, it doesn't make it any easier that our very own president calls people losers and lazy eyes and other things that I can't even repeat. We just don't have a culture that's going to cultivate a gentleness about us. Our culture is not rewarding those things, it's rewarding the opposite. And so it's so important to recognize that we have a great gift. We live in a country where free speech is protected. That's a wonderful gift from God.

13:26But we have completely lost sight of our calling as Christians. When we use that gift and we take to social media to speak evil of governing officials, or when we make fun of or vilify those who disagree with us, or when we pick fights with other people rather than promoting constructive dialogue, we are called to be gentle. We're called not to quarrel. And friends, we can stand out in society by our gentleness and by our perfect courtesy, especially when we're dealing with people who disagree with us. I mean, that's what everyone is used to seeing. They're used to seeing people just vilifying one another on social media. We're used to seeing on all of the major news networks people vilifying those who disagree with them. Where are the examples of men and women who will stand out by being gentle and perfectly courteous to everyone in our lives? And so Titus is to remind the believers to do all of these things, but why?

14:29Well, he gives the reason in verse 3. This is the biggest reminder of them all. The reason, he says in verse 3, that we need to submit to the government officials, the reason that we need to be ready for every good work, the reason that we must be gentle and perfectly courteous, is because we too were once lost in sin. We too were once lost in sin. You see, because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, every human being is born with a sinful nature. Our hearts are bitter. Toward sin from birth and leading us astray. And to make matters worse, we have to contend with Satan, whom Jesus called a liar and the father of lies. He's been leading people astray since the very beginning. So it's not just our sinful hearts that are leading us astray. We have this enemy in Satan who's actively leading us astray.

15:22And the result that we see here in verse 3 is that we become slaves to various passions and pleasures. So that's the thing about sin. The more we sin against God and others, the more enslaved to that sin that we become. Look at how Paul phrases it in Romans chapter 6 on the screen. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

15:59You see, Christians, this is what we were. We were all of these things that are listed here: foolish and disobedient, led astray, enslaved to sin. The problem is that after we've been following Jesus for a little while, we forget that. We completely forget where we came from. And when we forget where we came from, we become self-righteous. A self-righteous person is one who trusts in himself or herself. They are righteous rather than trusting only in the righteousness of God that has been credited to us through faith in Christ. It becomes about us rather than about Him.

16:42We forget where we came from. And it's real easy to tell if you've forgotten where you came from. Your actions will tell you. So if you find yourself mocking celebrities when they make a mess of their lives, you've forgotten where you came from. If you find yourself gossiping about your neighbors, your co-workers, you've forgotten where you came from. If you find yourself saying to your children, I can't believe you would do something like that, you've forgotten where you came from. And friends, every one of us has done these things. You pull the grocery cart through the checkout line and you look at the covers of those magazines and you shake your head and you think, what are they doing with their lives? Why are they making these choices? And you look around at your office or in your neighborhood and you see people making choices that are harmful and unwise. You shake your head. You look at your kids. I mean, you just walk around all day, right? What in the world is even going on?

17:51And all of that just goes to show we've forgotten where we came from. We too were once foolish and disobedient. All of these things once characterized us. And if we're honest, because we're still dealing with a sinful nature even as Christians, some of these things still sometimes characterize us. So we've all done these things. We've all forgotten where we came from. But Paul says we ourselves were once this way. So what happened to us? What happened? Look at verse 4. And it begins with this word, but.

18:27But. As in, but that's not where the story ends. This is who you once were, but that's not where the story ends. Look what he says. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. See, we had been spending our days hating one another and being hated. But then God's goodness and loving kindness appeared in the form, the person of Jesus. He was the embodiment of God's goodness and loving kindness, and he appeared. And what did he do? Look at verse 5. He saved us.

19:10He saved us. That phrase, exactly how it is written, is this beautiful gospel presentation that we find here boiled down to just three words. He saved us. I mean, if I just had three words to try to define the gospel for somebody, those are the three words. That I would choose. God saved us. According to Ephesians 1, God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. According to Luke chapter 19, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

19:52According to Romans 5, God reconciled us to Himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And according to Ephesians chapter 2 that we read at the beginning of the service, God granted us grace and faith to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So you see, the whole Bible, it's not like this is an isolated instance. The whole Bible is this message. God saved us. He did the work. And that is a message that's completely in contrast to everything that we see in here today. Because what we see in here today is that we can save ourselves through self-discovery and self-improvement. That's why the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble and everywhere else around town, they're lined with these books that say what you're missing is this instruction on how to discover yourself and then how to improve yourself. And if you can just do those things, you will be saved. Now they might not use that language, but that's what they're getting at. But friends, who can discover and understand the human heart? Fully.

21:01The Bible says no one can do that. Who can improve himself or herself to the point that we would make ourselves acceptable to a holy God? We can never improve ourselves enough. So we don't need self-discovery and self-improvement. We need God to save us. And just in case there's any doubt left in our minds about whether or not we're contributing something to our salvation, look at what verse 5 goes on to say: 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, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

21:52See, God saved us not because we earned it with our works, but because of His mercy. He is merciful and chose not to treat us as our sins deserved. That's the beauty of the gospel: is that through our sin and rebellion against God, we had actually earned wrath, not forgiveness or righteousness or anything else. But in His mercy, He chose to save us. And it says in that verse at the end that He washed away our sins through the Holy Spirit. He made us into new creations through the Holy Spirit.

22:30These are beautiful word pictures of what's happened to us. In fact, Paul even says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. And you see in verse 7 the end goal of this salvation, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Isn't that incredible? That the goal of saving us was not just so that our sins would be forgiven, not just so that we could go to heaven rather than hell, but so that we would become co-heirs with Christ. This is why the scripture, ladies, if you've ever read the Bible and you've thought, why does it say sons all the time, sons, sons, sons, not sons and daughters? So a lot of people think, well, it was a first-century book. It was just a patriarchal society. They didn't really care about women. That's not it at all. The reason it says sons is because the sons, specifically the firstborn son, is the one who got the inheritance.

23:36And so the point that the New Testament authors are making again and again is not that, yes, through faith we've been made sons and daughters, so we're all in the family, but some of us have a greater inheritance. No, the point in the New Testament is that all of us have the rights of the firstborn son, men and women. We are co-heirs with Christ. All of us inherit together these wonderful promises of the gospel. That was the end goal of our salvation, full adoption into God's family. So we have that to look forward to.

24:09And this was only possible because he first, as he says, justified us. He declared us to be righteous, even though we're not. We weren't before, we're not now. But through faith in Jesus, his righteousness was credited to us so that God looks upon us as though we were fully righteous like Jesus was. And friends, what hope that we find in those verses? This is perhaps the most complete gospel presentation in all of Scripture. Verses 3 through 7 of the book of Titus is perhaps the most complete gospel presentation in all of Scripture. And you would think, because if you're familiar with Paul's writings, whenever he presents the gospel like this, and he does it all the time, he almost always breaks into doxology. He almost always begins to praise and worship God. And that makes sense because that's why we were created. We were created to worship and enjoy God forever.

25:13So if you're familiar with the writing of Paul, you would get to the end of verse 7. You'd think, okay, well, here comes doxology. He's about to have this wonderful praise, this wonderful song of thanksgiving to God, but that's not what we see here. He doesn't break into doxology, and maybe that's because he Wants to actually highlight the second most important purpose of us being saved. Worship is the primary purpose, but mission is the secondary purpose. That's what he begins to highlight in verse 8. Look at verse 8. This 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.

26:06So we now have two of the three references to good works in this passage alone. And many Bible commentators have actually suggested that this is the main theme of the book of Titus. Gordon Fee says that the point of Titus is exemplary behavior for the benefit of outsiders. Exemplary behavior for the benefit of outsiders. So you see how in stark contrast that is to what so many people have thought about Christianity for many years, is that the whole point is that we behave well so that other people will look at us and praise us. It's about us. So that we can show how righteous we are in comparison to the rest of the world. Not at all.

26:53But rather, when we believe in the gospel of grace, our lives should be so transformed that other people look at us. And they glorify God. They look to Jesus, not to us. And in fact, the New Testament is filled with that same message presented over and over again in different ways. That we've been saved by the grace of God for the purpose of doing good works, which point those outsiders to Jesus. Look at what Jesus Himself says in Matthew chapter 5.

27:26You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Look at what Peter says in 1 Peter 2, verse 12.

27:55Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So you see again and again in Scripture this message that we are to be devoted to good works, not so that people will tell us how awesome we are, but so that they will see the grace of God working itself out in our lives and give glory and honor to God. It's all about his worship and his honor. Our good works point them to Christ.

28:31And, friends, our good works help us to stand out, especially in contrast to the false teachers that Paul has been talking about so often in his letters. And he returns his attention to them again in verse 9. Let's look there together. He writes this, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned.

29:09So we're to devote ourselves to good works. And good works are precisely the opposite of what these false teachers are doing with their lives. He's to avoid these things because they're of no use to anyone. They're not excellent and profitable for people like the good works are. But I want us to be careful here because Paul is not saying never enter into a theological debate or discussion. Some people read verses like this and they say, well, this is why I never get into debates or discussions about theology with anybody. They're just unprofitable. He's not saying that. And if that were what the Bible we're communicating, I mean, look at Jesus' life. Was not almost every interaction that he had with religious leaders a debate or a discussion about theology? Yes, it certainly was. Same was true for John the Baptist, who we looked at earlier. Same was true for Peter and Paul. So that's not what he's saying. He's saying there's two types of debates.

30:05In the first type of debate, people are seeking the truth, and they're seeking to genuinely understand the other person's point of view. That's a good type of debate. That's a good discussion. But an unprofitable and useless discussion is one where people are not seeking the truth, and they're not seeking to understand the other person's point of view. They're just waiting for their turn to yell. He says, don't have anything to do with those kinds of debates.

30:32The problem here is that you can't just ignore that those debates are going on. You've got to deal with the root problem, and that's what Titus as a pastor is called to do here. So what do you do when a person stirs up division and won't stop? Well, you warn him once, and then you warn him again, and then you put him out of fellowship with the church. In other words, you do exactly what Jesus commanded in Matthew chapter 18. You follow the process of church discipline.

31:01You see, friends, church discipline scares a lot of people. But there's no reason for that because it's a loving thing to do. Church discipline is simply a loving thing to do for a divisive person or anyone who's in sin because they often don't realize that they've been led astray, that their sin is hurting them and hurting others. It's the most loving thing to do for the church as a whole because when you allow people living in unrepentant sin to keep on going, it hurts everybody around them.

31:31And it's the most loving thing to do for non-Christians because they're looking at the church and wondering, why is there all of this division and fighting among people who supposedly love God and love each other? So, following these processes that we find in Scripture is the most loving thing to do for everyone, because it glorifies God and it helps everyone involved. Titus's job is to promote unity rather than division. But to do that, he was going to have to have some hard conversations, not just avoid the wrong kinds of conversations, but to deal with the root issue of sin in the church.

32:10Well, I want to wrap up the letter now with the final four verses. Let's look at verse 12 together. He says, When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollos on their way, see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

32:51At the end of the letter here, Paul almost sounds like a field general who's directing his troops under the command of a superior officer. He starts off and he tells Titus, hey, I need you at Nicopolis, and so I'm going to send either Artemis or Tychicus to you to take over your post. He says, I need you to speed Zenus and Apollos on their way. I need you to make sure that they're well supplied with everything that they have because other churches need them.

33:18He's directing the troops on the ground. And as I read this section, I thought about how hard it must have been for all of these men, for leaders like Paul and Titus and others, who had to continually leave churches that they loved. And you think about those churches that they left behind and how difficult that was. I mean, surely Titus and the people that he was pastoring, they developed a great affection for one another. And that must have been hard as well. And then I began thinking about our own situation here at New Life and how similar our situation is.

33:55We find ourselves at the end of another school year, and so many beloved students, including some who have been with us their entire college career, are going to be leaving. We have singles and families who are getting ready to move for job transfers. We have missionaries that are about to be commissioned to the field or to training. And friends, it's hard for us to say goodbye as often as we do. But because we have to say goodbye so often, it's also a reminder that this world is not our home and that we've been placed here to fight the good fight of faith.

34:30That's why that imagery of being a good soldier in the Lord's army is used again and again in Paul's letters. So, what you and I are called to do is to learn to devote ourselves to good works, especially where there's urgent need, so that we won't be unfruitful. And at the end of the school year, also, it's a good time to meditate on that command that we see there in verse 14 to devote ourselves to good works, because I think a lot of us are tired. Look at what Paul writes in Galatians chapter 6: And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So, then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

35:18I think some of us are ready to give up. It's the end of another long year. I know I feel that way from time to time. But Paul takes a moment to remind us: listen, we will reap a harvest if we don't give up. And so, friends, my encouragement to you this morning at the end of this wonderful letter is to keep pressing on, to not give up, but to keep working so that we will see that wonderful harvest that God promises. Some of you have been following Jesus for decades. Some of you just started following Jesus. Some of you have been members of New Life since the very beginning, and some of you have just recently joined the church. I want to encourage all of you to keep pressing on. Our church needs you, and so does the world. Around us, we have been saved by the grace of God. And we haven't just been saved from something, from our sin and its consequences, from all of our bad works, but we've been saved for something to devote ourselves to good works. Let's pray.

36:21God, I pray for the men and women who are exhausted. They're exhausted because from the very beginning here at New Life, they've been serving. Some are on staff, many are not. They've been pouring themselves out, making disciples, meeting needs, and they're tired. I pray for young parents in the room up at many hours during the night chasing kids all day. They're exhausted. I pray for the singles here in our church, who in some ways have the most challenging job of all. They work full-time.

37:20They give themselves, pour themselves out in service to the church and the community. They're often asked to go above and beyond because people reason, well, they don't have a wife for kids. A husband or kids. And so, God, wherever people are, I know that people are exhausted. And so, a message coming at the end of the year about devoting ourselves to good works can just seem overwhelming. How in the world are we going to have time to do even more than we're already doing?

37:59But, God, you say that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. And we confess that apart from your strength, your grace, and your Holy Spirit, we just don't have the energy to do anymore. And so, we ask for supernatural grace and power today to do good works that will bless people in the church and in the community as well. We pray that when people look at us in our lives, that we wouldn't allow them to think that we're just really great people.

38:38People who have their life together and people who have it figured out. But instead, we would be quick to remind them of who we were. And in so doing, remind ourselves of who we were. And that the only reason that we devote ourselves to good works, the only reason, if they see any good in us, the only Reason for that is the grace of God in our lives. And I pray that they would come to see that and then glorify you, that their lives would be changed by the grace of God just as ours have been.

39:15Father, we thank you this morning for the book of Titus, that it's been preserved for 2,000 years for us. We thank you for all of the pastoral epistles, for 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, that these things weren't just letters that Timothy and Titus read and then they got lost, but they've been passed down so that we could be instructed and encouraged as well. Father, we ask for help to fight the good fight of faith, to not give up, to not grow weary of doing good, but to see ourselves as faithful, good soldiers in your army.

39:58God, we give you thanks for the opportunity to come together and worship this morning. We pray that our hearts would be refreshed, that we'd be empowered for another week of pouring ourselves out. In Jesus' name, we pray all these things. Amen.