We once were…

…foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another…

What a list? Not exactly the kinds of qualities you would want to include on your resume. But Paul says they represent who we used to be. They are the things we despise in others, that we see as characteristics of the world around us, but Paul says we used to be the same way.

But…

Something happened. Notice that Paul speaks in the past tense. When referring to his list, he says we “once were” those things. But not any more. Those are no longer the characteristics of our life. They are no longer who we are. Because something incredible took place.

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us.” – Vs 4

God saved us. He showed us love and kindness. How? Through sending His Son to die in our place. Jesus was the love of God manifested or made visible. God’s love took on a tangible form and expressed itself in selfless, sacricial service to man by becoming the sinless, spotless sacrifice that God’s wrath required. God didn’t have to do it, but He did. Out of love. Not because we deserved it or had earned it.

“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.” – Vs 5

Remember the list. That is how we used to be. That is how God viewed us when He saved us. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:5 that “even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” God saved us according to His mercy and grace. When I was at my worst, God gave me His best. And the most exciting thing is that He no longer sees me the way I once was. Even though I may still struggle with some of the issues on the list in verse 3. I can still be foolish, disobedient, hateful, and find myself enslaved to various pleasures. But that is no longer me. That is my old self. But my old self was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6). I am no longer a slave to sin (Romans 6:6). Yes, I still struggle and battle with my sinful flesh. It is alive and well. It tries to derail me and get me to fall back into my old way of life. But I no longer have to obey the flesh. I am a new creature. I am a new man. I stand before God as righteous. I am righteous. And I do not have to try and become righteous. I do not have to try and transform myself into something I am not. I just need to live as what I already am. I need to remind myself daily that I am a child of God, filled with the Spirit of God, and empowered to live the life of godliness. I am not a sinner attempting to become a saint. I am a saint who happens to sin. I am a saint doing battle with my sinful flesh. I am a saint living in a sinful world. It will be a battle. I will fail at times. I will fall. But I am no less a saint in God’s eyes. We are “heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (vs 7). So the reality of who we are should impact the way we act. It should reveal itself in the good deeds that Paul talks about in verses 1 and 8. We don’t have to act the way we used to act. We don’t have to be controlled by our sinful flesh. We have the ability to say, “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness. We can do good deeds and Paul encourages us to do so. Why? Because they are “good and profitable for men” (Vs 8).

So let’s remind ourselves daily of who we are in Christ. Let’s remember who we once were, but never forget who we now are. We are saints. Saved by God through His love and mercy poured out on us in Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed, renewed, regenerated, and restored to a right relationship with God. Now let’s live like it.

Father, thank You so much for the gift of Your grace. I did not deserve to be saved. I could not have saved myself. Yet You graciously gave Your own Son as a payment for my sins. He gave His life for mine. His sacrifice allowed me to become what I never could have become on my own: A saint. A child of the living God. Sin no longer represents who I am. I am not a sinner trying to become a saint. I am a saint who happens to sin. Help me see myself as who I really am. Don’t let me undervalue what I have been given by underestimating its reality. When the enemy attempts to condemn me, remind me that there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Roman 8:1). Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.” – Vs 11-12

The grace of God has appeared in the form of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate manifestation of God’s grace – His undeserved, unmerited favor. God poured out His grace on mankind, instead of pouring out His well-deserved wrath. He offered salvation in place of condemnation and eternal separation. He provided a way out when we were down and out, dead in our trespasses and sins. What an incredible gift we have been given. But His grace doesn’t stop at salvation. It includes our ongoing sanctification. God not only provided His grace in the form of His Son so that we might have life everlasting, but life more abundantly – here and now. This grace not only brings salvation, it provides instruction. It teaches us to deny ungodly ways. To “say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (NIV). But grace doesn’t burden us with a list of do’s and don’ts. It doesn’t turn our sanctification into some kind of works-based, human-dependent attempt at godliness. No, grace shows us that it is not about us at all. It is ALL about God and His provision of everything we need to live the life He has called us to live.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” – 2 Peter 1:3

Yet many of us as Christians still struggle with living the Christian life. We just can’t seem to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. We have a hard time living self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. We seem to say, “No” only to say, “Yes” the next time around. We attempt to practice self-control, only to lose control a few minutes later. So what’s wrong with this picture? It is that we are failing to learn the lesson grace has to teach us. We can no more transform ourselves than we can save ourselves. Yet we try repeatedly and exhaustively to do just that. We freely accept the notion that God saved us in spite of us. He rescued and redeemed us out of sin and made us His own. But something happened. Listen to what the authors of the book, TrueFaced have to say about this situation:

“But, something happened to many of us in the intervening years. We lost confidence that his delight of us and new life in us would be a strong enought impetus for a growth that would glorify God and fix our junk. So, we gradually bought the slick sales pitch that told us we would need to find something more, something others seemed to have that we could never quite get our hands around. Something magical and mystical that we would receive if we tried hard enough and proved good enough, often enough. And so we began learning to prop things up. We went back to trying to impress God and others — back to posturing, positioning, manipulating, trying to appear better than who we were. Our two-faced life has severely stunted our growth. And broken our hearts. And left us gasping.”

Wow! Isn’t that where some of us find ourselves? Worn out and gasping for air. We have turned the walk of the Christian life into a laborious, energy-sapping, joy-robbing journey of disappointment. All because we have failed to learn the lessons grace has to offer. Verses 13-14 tell us that our journey toward godliness is not up to us, but it is up to the grace of God in the form of Jesus Christ.

“…we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

It is Jesus who redeemed us from a life of wickedness and ungodliness. It is Jesus who purified us with His death on the cross. It is by His power that we are able to stand in the presence of God as righteous. It is because of His grace that we are able to be called children of God and fellow heirs with Him. We are a people of grace from start to finish. We are saved by grace, and able to live godly lives because of grace. In spite of an active sin nature, a powerful enemy, and a world that hates us and longs to see us fail.God’s grace is sufficient. God’s grace is all we need. Which takes the burden off of me.

“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” – Romans 11:5-6

Father, thank You for Your grace. Without it I would still be dead in my sins. But I would also be unable to live the life You’ve called me to live. Thank You for making a life of godliness possible because Your grace is always available. Never let me forget that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

“From Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.” – Vs 1 (NET Bible)

Three things jump out of this first verse to me. They set the stage for what is to come in his letter to Titus.

Paul’s role

He sees himself as a slave or bondservant of God. For Paul, this was obviously a privilege as he refers to himself repeatedly in this way throughout his letters. He starts off virtually every one of his letters with this description of himself. For Paul, it was a position of honor, not humiliation. And while it is difficult for us as modern Americans to understand this concept, it was not foreign to the average Jew. In fact, it was part of their heritage. According to the NET Bible:

“Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were ‘servants (or slaves) of the Lord.'”

Paul considered himself in good company when he referred to himself as God’s slave or servant. He was serving the God of the universe. What greater privilege and position could one man hold? Do we see ourselves in that same light or have we reversed the roles, viewing God as our personal slave or servant? The truth is, I often see God as my personal valet, asking Him to do for me what I want to have done. I want Him to bless my decisions, fix my problems, clean up my messes, answer my requests, do my bidding, meet my needs, make my happy. Those are not the roles of the all-powerful God, but of a common, everyday servant. I have somehow gotten our roles reversed. Paul didn’t suffer from that delusion.

Secondly, Paul refers to himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was a “sent one,” a messenger of Jesus Christ, with the responsibility of taking the good news of salvation through Christ to the Gentiles. He served God and represented Christ. Paul understood his role and responsibility and took it very seriously. He did not deviate from it or allow himself to be distracted from it. Yet how easily I can be detoured from my role as a messenger for Jesus Christ. I have the same message to share and the same role to play, yet I can easily forget the fact that I too have been sent into the world as Christ’s ambassador. Instead of representing Him, I can fall into the delusion that I represent myself. God serves me and I represent myself. Two very common mistakes for as Christians today.

Paul’s responsibilities

Grow in faith – Paul mentions his responsibilities as a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. First, he says that he is responsible to “further the faith of God’s chosen ones” (NET Bible). He understood that he had a responsibility to encourage believers to grow in their faith. Not only was he to share the good news of faith in Christ, he was to see that those who received Christ, grew in Him. Their faith was to increase and grow stronger. And we see this happening from the day the church began. “So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number every day” (Acts 16:5). Paul praised the Thessalonian believers for their increasing faith: “We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. He told the Corinthians believers: “we hope that as your faith continues to grow, our work may be greatly expanded among you according to our limits (2 Corinthians 10:15). Seeing believers grow in their faith was a responsibility Paul took seriously.

Increase in the knowledge of the truth – Paul also knew he was responsible for helping believers grow in their knowledge of the truth. He was not content to simply share the gospel, but knew that believers would need to have a fuller understanding of God’s truth to survive and thrive in a hostile environment where falsehood and the lies of the enemy would surround them. Later in chapter two of Titus, Paul says that God  “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” And God wants men to grow in their knowledge of the truth. That is the role of sanctification in the life of the believer. Paul was not content for any follower of Christ to remain as he was when saved, but expected them to grow. Peter felt the same way. “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). In his letter to the Hebrews Paul says, “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). Increasing in knowledge of the truth, pressing on to spiritual maturity, growing in respect to salvation. This was Paul’s charge and he took it seriously. Do we?

Focused on eternity – Paul’s perspective was eternal, not temporal. He kept his eye on the goal: eternity and eternal life. He knew this life did not hold all there was to have. There was more and it was yet to come. Anything he did in this life was focused on the life to come. It was all motivated by a future hope. All that he did was “in hope of eternal life” (Vs 1). We increase in faith and grow in our knowledge of the truth – in hope of eternal life. That is our motivation. If we lose sight of eternity, we lose any reason for growing in our faith or increasing our knowledge of the truth. We begin to live in the here and now. We obsess about the present. The world becomes our focus instead of the world to come. Paul knew perspective was everything in the life of the believer. Without it, we flounder and fail. But how easy it is for us to take our eyes off the goal. So Paul reminds us that he had a responsibility to keep those under his care growing in faith, increasing in their knowledge of the truth and focused on the future. We have the same responsibilities to one another today.

Father, let me have the heart and mind of Paul. Give me the mind of a servant, and the understanding that my role is to help those around me increase in their faith daily, grow in their knowledge of the truth, and place their hope in the reality of eternity. Don’t let me get distracted. Keep me focused on the goal and dedicated to the task at hand. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org