11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Introduction
Last Sunday I told you about a national survey that revealed that 90 percent of the people in America claimed to believe in God. Now if you stopped right there you would think that God has never had it so good as he is having it in America today. But the surveys went on to ask more questions. One of them is, “Does your religious faith have any effect upon your business or your political life?” And the answer of the majority of those people was, “No, it has no effect upon my business or my political life.”
Apparently religion is highly respected but totally irrelevant to most people. It is something they do on Sunday but it has little effect on the rest of the week. I submit to you that Christianity could never be a cloak of righteousness that we wear on the Sabbath Day and then hang up in the six-day closet of indifference the rest of the week. If it is real, genuine Christianity, it is a way of life that affects everything we do, every person we meet, and every place we go. That practical aspect of Christianity is the theme of the book of Titus. I doubt that there is any book in the Bible that talks more about practical Christianity than does this book.
And out of all the passages in the book of Titus that deal with the practical aspects of our relationship to God, there is no passage more practical than the one that is before us today. It is found in Titus chapter two, verses 11-14. I want you to listen to this passage again.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
In this passage of scripture the apostle Paul is giving emphasis to the practical aspects of grace. I want you to notice how he begins the passage. “For the grace of God that brings salvation to all men hath appeared to us.” That word for always points to what has proceeded. In the passage that precedes this he has been talking about the duties of husband and the duties of wives, of fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and even the way slaves should conduct themselves in their everyday affairs. After talking about this very practical aspect of Christianity he then says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” In essence he is saying that the inspiration and power for right living flows out of the grace of God that has come to us. It flows out of our salvation experience.
Our grandfathers and our forefathers knew more about this word grace than we do. It is a word we need to better understand. There is no word in all the Bible that better expresses the heart and the mind of God than the word grace. It refers to God’s love and mercy bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ. It describes something that is given to us freely. We do not earn it, we do not deserve it, and we cannot pay for it. God just loves us because he is God—not because we are godly. Because of his great love he acted on our behalf and he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us, and in the death of Jesus on the cross, you have the best demonstration of the love of God and the grace of God in all of scripture.
Paul says that this grace of God has appeared. The tense of that verb appeared referred to something that happened in the past; it was a definite act of history. And Paul is saying at a definite time and point in history, God acted on our behalf and that took place when Jesus came and lived among us and then eventually died on the old rugged cross, was buried in Joseph’s tomb, and was raised from the dead. Now that grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
The salvation and the grace of God are not limited to a small handful or a select few; they are for all people. Having stated that great truth, Paul then begins to point out the practical implications and applications of that truth. He says that the grace of God has appeared, and it teaches us that we should do away with ungodliness and worldly lusts. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. In other words, the grace of God should inspire us and challenge us to live nobly—to live the right kind of life. It has a practical implication on the way we live day in and day out. The word of God and the grace of God then inspire us to live nobly.
But more than just living nobly, Paul says that we should be looking for the return of Jesus Christ, which he describes as our blessed hope. So the effect of God’s grace in our lives is not only that we should live nobly in the present, but that we should look with anticipation to the future.
Finally he says that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and that we might be the peculiar people of God, his special possession, and zealous unto good works. He saved us so that we can labor diligently for him. You put them all together and here is what he is saying: The grace of God that brings salvation has come at a specific time and point in the past. The grace of God ought to cause you to live nobly and to look with anticipation and expectation. And the grace of God ought to cause you to labor diligently for God.
The purpose of salvation is not just to give you a ticket to heaven when you die. It is rather to affect your life right here on earth today so that you live right, so that you are looking to Jesus as your hope, and so that you are working diligently and with zeal for him as long as he leaves you here. Unless grace accomplishes that in your life, it does not fulfill all that God intended it to bring. The work of God in the life of a Christian is intensely practical. His grace should be seen in your life and mine.
1. Live nobly. First, God’s grace ought to challenge us to live nobly. I want you to notice how Paul expresses that in this passage of scripture. In verse 12 he says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that in denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly.
As he talks about a noble life, there are two aspects to it. There is the negative aspect and there is the positive aspect. The negative is introduced by the mandate that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Somebody asked H. L. Hunt, who at that time in 1970 was one of the world’s wealthiest men, “What is the secret to success?” He said, “Decide what you are willing to give up and then get on with your task.” You see there is no possibility for a person to be successful in life without giving up some things. In exactly the same way as you must give up some things in order to be successful, so you must give up some things if you are going to be noble. Paul begins by saying that we must give up ungodliness and worldly lusts.
Early Christendom described worldly lusts as those things we shall not take with us into the life to come. We must not give ourselves to those things that will not outlive this world. If we devote ourselves to just the material things—the physical things and the things that money can buy—when we die and pass over into eternity they shall all be left behind. The very grace of God ought to cause us to turn our backs to those things that shall not live into eternity, and to focus rather upon that which is of eternal significance.
Paul says we ought to deny some things. But then he suggests on the positive side that we ought to live soberly, righteously, and godly. In those three words—soberly, righteously, and godly—you have the totality of Christian responsibility. In fact they cover the three duties of a Christian’s life. The word soberly has to do with our duty to ourselves. The word righteously has to do with our duty to our fellow man. The word godly has to do with our duty to God. Duty to self, duty to man, duty to God.
The word soberly means self-control. It means discipline. The very grace of God in my life ought to cause me to live a self-controlled, disciplined life. If I were the only person on the face of the earth—no one here but me, wisdom would say that I ought to live a disciplined life. I ought to control myself. Part of the right kind of living is that we live disciplined, self-controlled lives. That’s a duty I have to myself. But I do not live on the earth by myself. I live with other people. So I have a duty not only to myself. I have a duty to my fellow man. That duty is summed up in that word righteously, which suggests honesty, justice, and integrity. I have a responsibility not only to live a life of self-control, but a life of integrity as well. I need to be honest and fair and just with you. And my relationship with God should not only cause me to control myself, but to treat you in the right kind of way.
But my duty is not only to myself and not only to you. It is also to God. I have a responsibility to live a godly life, which means that I live with a sense of reverence and respect for Almighty God. Not only am I here, and not only are you here, but God is here, and all of us have a responsibility to live a godly kind of life for him.
You take those three words—soberly, righteously, and godly—and they say that I am to be strict toward myself, I am to be just toward you, and I am to be pious toward God. Put them all together and they are the summation of Christian duty.
Paul is saying the grace of God in your life ought to cause you to live the right kind of life. So may I ask you as if you and I were the only ones here, “Is God’s grace affecting the way you live? Where you work, with your family, and among your friends, are you living a sober life? A righteous life? A holy life?” I didn’t ask you if you are a member of the church. I didn’t ask you if you come to church every Sunday. I didn’t ask you if you put money in the collection plate. I am asking, “Is the grace of God affecting the way you live?” God’s grace should cause us to live nobly.
2. Look expectedly. There is a second thing it ought to affect. It ought to cause us to look expectedly. Paul says that we are to be looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I want you to look at that word appearing. It is the second “appearance” that is mentioned in this passage of scripture. He says in verse 11 that the grace of God hath appeared. Now in verse 13 he says we are to look for another appearance. Jesus came once and lived among us. It was in that coming that he died on the cross and was buried in the tomb and was raised on the third day. Then he ascended into heaven and the scriptures say that he is coming again. So we know that Jesus appeared once, but he is going to appear again, and Paul says that the grace of God in our lives should cause us to keep looking for that next appearance. He speaks of it as our blessed hope.
What does he mean by that? He means that the only real hope that we have for justice, for mercy, and for relief is in the coming of Jesus Christ. The hope of this world is not in any leader in our state, in our nation, or in our world. The hope of the world is not even found in an economic turnaround. The hope of our world for the people of God is in the return of Jesus Christ. Until Jesus comes again, things will never be right no matter what we do temporarily. Whatever we may do politically is like putting a Band-Aid on a cancer. Ultimately it will break out somewhere else. Ultimately it will destroy us.
Our hope is in the return of Jesus Christ. And when he comes, the wrongs of this world will be righted. Justice will be meted out. The sick will be cured. The dead will be raised and the salvation of God will be complete once and for all. Apart from his coming, there is no real hope in the world.
I want you to notice how Paul describes the one who shall come. He speaks of him as the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I want you to put those two together, the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. There was no doubt in the apostle Paul’s mind as to who Jesus Christ was or is. He is the great God. The essence of Christianity is this: Jesus Christ is God. He is not just a part of God. He is not just sent from God. He is not just a representative of God. Jesus Christ was and is God, and Paul makes that very clear as he simply and naturally ties the two together. The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ is coming. They are one in the same, and our hope is in him. The grace of God in your life and in mine causes us to keep looking expectedly. We not only live nobly now, but we look expectedly for his coming. That’s our hope.
It was Martin Luther who said, “We ought to believe and live and love as though Jesus Christ died yesterday, arose today, and is coming back tomorrow.”
3. Labor diligently. The grace of God causes us to live nobly, look expectedly, and finally to labor diligently. Look at verse 14. Paul is talking about Jesus (who is coming again), and this is what he says: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” He comes back again to the word gave. Jesus gave himself for us. It is an awesome thought. No matter who you are, Jesus gave himself for you. No matter what you have done, Jesus gave himself for you. No matter what you’ve got, Jesus gave himself for you. No matter what you have achieved or failed to achieve, Jesus gave himself for you. And the Gospel can be summed up in that one statement: he gave himself for us—every one of us.
He did that to set us free from all sin, to redeem us, and to make us his own peculiar people. That word peculiar does not suggest that we are strange or that we are oddballs. It rather means that we are his special possession. He gave himself that he might set us free from sin and that we would become his very own people—his special, unique people. He did this so that we might be zealous unto good works. Can you see the line of thought? The grace of God is come so we would live nobly, so we would look expectedly, and so we would labor or work diligently for him. And salvation is not just to get us on the road to heaven, but it is also to get us busy until Jesus comes again. And what a need there is for workers in the kingdom of God! He saved you so that you would be a zealot for good works.
I heard about a man who started a new business. It was a small factory. A friend went to visit with him one day and the man wanted to show him around the factory. So he toured the facilities showing him all the new machinery and all the people who were working there, and when they finished up the tour the friend asked the new owner of the business, “How many people work here?” The owner replied, “About half of them.” That is the way I feel about this church sometimes. There are thousands of people and just a few of them are working.
I read something the other day that interested me and you might find some help in it. It said, “The population of the United States is 200 million people. Now 84 million of those people are over 65 years of age, so that leaves 116 million to do the work. The people under 20 years old total 75 million, so that leaves only 41 million to do the work. There are 22 million who are employed by the federal government, so that leaves only 19 million to do the work. There are four million in the armed forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. You deduct 14 million and 800,000—which is the number of state and city office employees, and that leaves only 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 people in the hospitals and insane asylums, so that leaves only 12,000 people to do the work. Now it may interest you to know that there are 11,998 people in prison and in jail today, so that leaves just two people to carry the load, and that’s you and me and brother, I’m getting tired of doing it all by myself.”
Now, I am not sure that that is what the apostle Paul in mind, but the fact of the matter is that God saves you to do something, not just to sit and to observe. We need to be zealous for good works.
Our zeal needs to be balanced with wisdom. When I think about unbridled zeal, I think about the time when a Jehovah’s Witness convention was going to come to a city. One fellow grew very concerned because he knew that when Jehovah’s Witnesses come to town they start going door to door witnessing and he thought, “We need to understand these witnesses so we can witness to them when they come.”
So he asked the preacher to teach a course on Jehovah’s Witnesses. Among other things, he found out that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not salute the flag. So in preparation for the day when their convention would begin, he bought a 10-foot American flag and hung it up in his den right above the fireplace. And he waited anxiously for the day when the Jehovah’s Witnesses would come to his door. When the doorbell finally rang he stepped to the door and saw a neatly dressed middle-aged lady standing there. Before she could open her mouth he said, “Well, good afternoon. I am so glad to see you. I’ve been expecting you for a long time. Come right in.”
And with a bit of a surprised look on her face, she walked inside. Then he said, “Now, before you say anything I want you to come and do something with me.” He led her into the living room right in front of that American flag and he said, “I want you to put your hand over your heart and repeat after me.” She didn’t know what was going on, but she put her hand over her heart and he said and she repeated the whole pledge to the flag. When he got through he turned to her and said, “Well, what do you think about that?”
She said, “Sir, I’ve been an Avon lady for 20 years and have never run into something like this.”
That’s zeal without knowledge, you know. When he talks about being zealous for good works, it is not to be unbridled zeal, but he is saying that God has saved us to do something, and by his grace we are to be workers in the kingdom of God. We need some jumper cables for slow starters in this church to get busy in his kingdom.
So he has saved you so you can live a noble life. He has saved you to keep looking expectedly for his return and for you to work hard until he comes again. But that will never happen apart from his grace. You see in Jesus there is the power and the strength and the ability to live right and to keep all of life into perspective and to work effectively.
The great truth is this, that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared in Jesus who gave himself for us, and when we believe in him and when we trust him and commit our lives to him, he helps us to live how we ought to live, to look like we ought to look, and to work like we ought to work. The great need then is to give your heart and life to the Savior and to follow him in obedience.