20230326 Titus 3, Gospel-Transformation Marked by Good Works For a Healthy Faith
The 5 Solae of the Reformation summarize the Gospel. The authority for all faith and practice is the Scripture Alone. The Bible teaches that salvation is by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, and for the Glory of God Alone. In parallel, the Bible stresses good works that never impact salvation. What is the role of work in our lives? The Law of God has three purposes: curb, mirror, and guide. As a curb, it restricts sin in society through God-ordained governments for the protection of society. As a mirror, the law shows us our sin and our need for a savior. As a guide, it teaches us how to live according to God’s purposes. The Bible does not offer a choice between faith and works. Both are part of the Christian life. While Tit 3 includes one of the clearest presentations of the Christian good news, the primary theme is good works. The word “works” occurs 4 times, in Tit 3:1, 5, 8, 14. The gospel is good news for good works. Good works are not a burden but the benefit of having Jesus in our lives! Tit 3 teaches that God saves us from a state of Sin, and cleanses us for his service. Healthy Faith is Gospel-Transformation marked by good works.
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Sin:
Tit 3:3 Describes the state of Sin in all areas of our life.
Tit 3:3 pictures
a bleak picture of our lives before we knew Jesus. Christians can read Tit 3:3
and be worried that it may still describe them. When we feel this kind of
conviction, we must repent. Repentance is a sign of the Spirit working in us.
Though this verse speaks of our pre-Christian existence, we still recognize it
in the present because the process of becoming more like Jesus remains gradual
and incomplete in this life.
Sin affects our
thinking: we were foolish; our will: we were disobedient; our relationships: we
were deceived, envied, detestable, and hating one another; our desires: we were
slaves to passions and desires of every kind; and our actions: we conducted
ourselves in wickedness. This is not an uplifting pep talk, but the more we
understand our need for a savior, the more we will value the sacrifice of
Christ which covers all our iniquity. The diagnosis of our sin is worse than we
imagine. We are not as bad as we possibly could be, but the effect of sin is
total. No area is spared from the consequences of sin. Sin affects us so that
Eph 2:1 says we were “dead in our trespasses and sins.” Concerning our natural inability
to please God, Paul writes in Rom 8, “7For the mind that
is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law;
indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in
the flesh cannot please God.” Read the news and
count how many of the stories are good news rather than bad news. We
do not have to look at genocide, or human trafficking to discuss depravity. Even
though Christ covers sin, no one would want all their thoughts to be projected
on a screen for all to know. Fear, anger, desire to control, hatred, jealousy, and
self-centeredness separate us from God. This is sin.
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Salvation:
Tit 3:4-7 teaches the good news that God has cleansed our sin.
We read, “When[i]
the kindness and philanthropy of our savior God appeared, he saved us, not
according to works in righteousness” (Tit 3:4-5). Following the picture of sin
from Tit 3:3, salvation cannot be by works or we would all be lost. When it
comes to salvation, good deeds count for nothing. This is great news. The only
way to save sinners is apart from work. While we were sinners, the
man-benefitting love of our savior appeared. By his mercy, he saved us.[ii]
According to Tit 3:5, salvation is “the washing of regeneration
and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” The good news concerns spiritual purity that
occurs with the forgiveness of sins. Jesus did not come to give us health,
wealth, and happiness. The gospel affects society. The gospel leads people to
fight against injustices, oppression, and toxic social structures, but those
things are not the Gospel. The good news is the declaration of the forgiveness
of sins for all those who believe. The work of the Spirit regenerates us so that
we are new creatures. Christians are no longer the beings from Tit 3:3. God poured
out the Holy Spirit in abundance on Christians through Jesus Christ (Tit 3:6).
The result, according to Tit 3:7, is “justification.” God made us right in
accordance with the law. Sin is breaking God’s law. God’s salvation makes sinners
innocent before the law. Sin separates us from God and others, and even causes
inner turmoil. God’s salvation brings integration. Salvation frees us from shame
and despair. We have the hope of eternal life!
Application:
No one can be saved by work, because of our sense of justice, we struggle not
to fall back into bringing works into the salvation equation. The following are
three questions to sneakily test if someone unintentionally holds to a
works-based salvation. Do good people go to heaven? Once God saves you, if you
do bad things, can you lose your salvation? If you have been a good Christian
your whole life, giving to and serving the church, is it fair that God saves
people at the end of their lives? I asked a lady in her 70s who had attended
church her whole life, and wanted to become a church member. She got all three
questions wrong. It is not good people who go to heaven but forgiven sinners
who go to heaven. If our good works did not save us, our bad works cannot un-save
us. Finally, whether God saved us young or old, it is all according to his mercy.
It is not fair that he would save anyone at all! This teaching may
appear basic but getting this wrong has real consequences. It makes you and me
as it made this lady, self-righteous, anxious, and judgmental all at the same
time! Grace changes this!
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Service:
Titus 3:1-2, 8-11, 15 teach we were transformed for good works.
Sin separates and salvation in Christ integrates. This is
the background to good works. Some presentations of the Christian faith could
lead us to believe that we were saved by grace and now we have to work really
hard until we die. We can lose the sense that God is the one working in us at
every stage in the Christian life. Something fascinating about the gospel
presentation of Tit 3:4-7 is that it mentions no human actions. It does not
mention either faith or repentance, just the action of the Triune God. The Father
washed us with the Spirit through the Son. The reason Christians now can do
good is God. Our sins are washed by the Spirit, and the Spirit was poured upon us
in abundance! We are saved from the consequences of sin, and more than this, God
washed us and changed us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians can sin
less than they used to. This is God’s great work of transformation. Good works
stem from the great news that God changed us. They are not our performance, but
God’s performance!
Legalism is either believing you need to become worthy
before God will save you, or insisting that saved people live by a code of
conduct foreign to the Bible. In the NT, legalism consisted of enforcing Jewish
traditions. When I became a Christian, I thought alcohol was okay, but smoking
was definitely a sin! If I saw someone who claimed to be a Christian smoke, I
started to have my doubts. Legalism is anti-Christian. Titus 3 presents a
picture of our total inability to please God before he cleansed us, declared us
innocent of sin, and changed for good works. The logic of this chapter can only
lead to one conclusion. God is glorified for all the good works in our lives.
Titus 3 addresses, submission, gossip, living profitable
lives, and lovingly protecting the church from harm. (1) Tit 3:1 teaches us to
submit to rulers and authorities. This kind of submission flows from being
changed by the gospel and glorifies God. Government is a structure designed by
God to protect society. When we submit to an unjust government, we show that
our hope is not in this world. We present Christ who submitted to an unjust authority
to secure the forgiveness of sins. We cannot submit to anything that makes us
sin. May we be a community where we are quick to give up our preferences for
the sake of others! (2) Tit 3:2, we slander no one. There are times when we
need to share hard truths about others to edify others. Not sharing could harm people.
(E.g., Don’t date that guy, he has a drinking problem). These occasions are
rare. Beyond that, there is no good reason to speak ill of another. Let us
agree as a community, that we will not tolerate slander. It will not come out
of our mouths or into our ears. This requires a group effort. (3) In Tit 3:8, Paul
instructs Titus to emphasize the gospel because it leads to good works and
people not wasting their lives! In Tit 3:8 and 9, there is an image that gets
lost in translation. Paul desires Christians to stand at the front (devote) of
useful good works, and stand around (avoid) useless controversy. Let us focus
on knowledge that accords with godliness. Debates on the age of the earth, the
end times, and the mysteries of the intersection of God’s sovereignty and human
responsibility rarely lead to more love. In Tit 3:10-11, Paul teaches about
lovingly protecting the church from those who would cause division with
controversies. A church must care for its health and have a system to correct
harmful behavior. When a person intentionally harms the community and is
unwilling to stop even after a warm loving understanding dialogue, it can become
clear that they are opponents of the gospel. Appropriate measures will be
taken. As soon as the person repents, they are of course welcomed back into the
fold and will enjoy the full benefits of church membership.
Application:
Good works without the gospel can only lead to being right in our own eyes. In
the Christian life, understanding God’s forgiveness leads to good works every
time. In Matt 18, Jesus tells a parable of a servant who owes his master 10000
talents which is 150 000 years’ worth of wages. The servant pleads that the
debt would be canceled, and the master agrees. This servant was owed 100
denarii which is the equivalent of 4 months’ wages. When Servant 2 asked for
this debt to be canceled, the first servant refused. In every situation in
life, Christians are the first servant. Our debt of sin has been canceled and we
have eternal life instead of eternal death. I am outraged at the first servants’
refusal to do good in response to what he was given. I need to be just as
passionate about good works in my own life knowing God’s love for me. The
church has been responsible for so much good in the world from establishing
schools, hospitals, and orphanages. If God saved you, Titus 3 teaches that he
wants to use you in your school, in your family, at work, and in this church.
Maybe you know exactly what this means for you. If not, start small. Everyone
needs a friend to whom they can talk. That can be the place to start. Titus 3 does
not send us out into the world with a burden to bear. Jesus has removed our burden,
so we are free to do the good we want to do.
Conclusion:
This concludes Titus
for a healthy faith! Healthy faith keeps Christ central. It trusts in him for
the forgiveness of sins. But it trusts in Christ for all things by holding fast
to his word. Healthy faith keeps Christ central by valuing Christ-like healthy
leadership that promotes a healthy community through its character and words. Healthy
faith keeps Christ central by keeping him central in every relationship we
have. Because Jesus laid down his life, in him, we are also able to submit to
others. Healthy faith keeps Christ central by making our works about him. Titus
2-3 highlighted that God initiates our salvation and is also the goal of our
salvation. A gospel-shaped life makes God look great! We understand the depth
of our sin and know that God’s grace is greater. God frees us from fear and
shame. He uses our contagious joy that overflows in wanting to meet the needs
of others for his glory. This is what Titus is all about.
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