When we hear the Gospel or the Good News, what comes to our mind? Do we think of a heavenly real estate deal that after signing up we are now assured of a place in heaven? Do we think of a divine fire insurance that after putting our name on the dotted line we can now heave a deep sigh of relief because we are skipping hell? Is it as simple as ABC? Accept believe and confess? Is that all there is to the Good News? In a recent study of contemporary religion in America, sociologists have found a disturbing trend among teenagers. For them, “God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem… The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.” [1] Simply put, relationship with God became a religion about Him. But I think that point of view is not just held by teenagers and it is not just found among Americans. Is that it? Is that what the Good News is all about?
What’s so good about the Good News, anyway? Of course, when we put our faith in our Lord Jesus as Savior, we have eternal life. But there’s more to the Good News than just making sure we would enjoy heaven and won’t endure hell. Yes, when we believe, we will find peace. But the Good News is not just about peace. It’s not at all just about feeling good. There’s more to the Good News than that. There’s more to it than just making a decision for Christ and then proceeding with our lives as usual. So, what’s so good about the Good News?
Titus 2:11-14 gives us the answer. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live selfcontrolled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, 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.”[2] Here we see that the reason the news is good is because the Good News involves all aspects of our life. Why? Because the grace that SAVES is the grace that WORKS. Let us pray first…
In the Greek, Titus chapter 2 verses 11 to 14 are actually one long sentence. Titus was the pastor of the church in that place called Crete. The Cretans or those who live in Crete have a bad reputation. In Titus 1:12, we read that “Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’” Now that they became believers, they should live differently. But there are some people who “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”[3] There are people like that today. People who claim they are believers yet we wonder as we look at their lives if they really are believers. Now before we think I am referring to the person to your left or to your right, consider first if the person sitting where you are seated right now is really a Christ follower.
First, let us talk about the grace that saves. Verse 11 tells us, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” Circle the phrase “the grace of God.” Grace is God’s kindness that He freely gives us even if we are not worthy to receive it. His grace “brings salvation”. We read this in Ephesians 2:8-9. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” We can’t earn salvation. It is only made possible by grace not by good works. We receive it through faith in our Lord Jesus. If that is not clear enough, look at Romans 11:6. “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” Grace is God’s gift. If you have to pay for a gift, if you have to earn it, if you have to deserve it, it’s no longer a gift. We are saved by grace, not by works.
What does it mean that “the grace of God… has APPEARED to all men”? We got the word “epiphany” from the Greek word used here for “appeared,” which either means “the sudden realization or leap in understanding” or “the appearance of manifestation of God.” In the Greek, it means “the dawning of light upon darkness”[4] or “to become visible or known.” But the grace that appeared here is not just an idea that we suddenly understood. Paul used the same Greek word in verse 13: “the glorious APPEARING of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. So, here in our context, the grace that has already appeared refers to our Lord Jesus. Verse 11 talks about His first coming and verse 13 refers to His second coming. He is grace in the flesh. When we talk of grace here we are talking of a person, not a principle. We don’t just talk about the Lord. We connect with Him. That’s what so good about the Good News. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion… an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Here He is called “our great God and Savior”. This is one of the clearest and strongest verses to prove that Jesus is equal with the Father, that He is God. Some people would say that “great God” refers to the Father and “Savior” refers to the Son. But it did not say “our great God and OUR Savior”. If the verse is phrased as such, that would mean that Paul was referring to two persons. But it says “OUR great God AND Savior.” Literally in the Greek, it goes like this: “the great God and Savior of us Jesus Christ”. Thus, it refers to one person, “Jesus Christ”. Jesus was not the Father but He is equal with God. And the fact that He is God means that He is Lord, the Master and the Boss of our lives.
Verse 14 tell us that Christ “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.” Note that it says He “gave himself for us”. He voluntarily gave Himself for us. People did not have to force Him on the cross. He willingly died for our sins. Circle the conjunction “to.” It can be translated “in order that” or “so that.” It gave us the reason why Christ gave Himself for us. He did it in order that He can “redeem us”. In the Greek, the word “redeem” means “to obtain release by the payment of a price, to ransom”. For slaves, that word is very precious. We are no longer bound by sin or wickedness. Christ has set us free. He Himself is the ransom. We deserve death. But He died in our place. We can’t save ourselves. He saved us. Notice also that He Himself redeemed us from sin with Himself as the price for Himself. That other than redeeming us from wickedness, another reason He gave Himself for us is “to purify for himself a people that are his very own”. Literally, “his very own” is “his own possession”. We now belong to Jesus. He Himself redeemed us from sin with Himself as the price for Himself. We are now His prized possessions Who would do His bidding.
It is clear here that there is a dual purpose why Christ gave Himself for us. It is “to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” He saved us from wickedness or bad works. And He saved us for good works. Underline the last clause: “eager to do what is good.” The word “eager” means we are to be zealous in doing what is right. We are to be passionate for good works. Good works do not save us. But once we are saved, the moment we belong to Him, that means He saved us for good works. After saying that we are saved by grace not by works in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul in verse 10 said, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone He saved us from bad works in order to do good works. Faith is the root of salvation and works are the fruit of salvation. The grace that brought us salvation is the grace that brings us to do good works. The grace that saves is the grace that works.
Let us now talk about the grace that works. Grace makes works possible. Note that “the grace of God… teaches us”. It means that grace instructs or disciplines us. It is like how a parent trains a child. Grace leads us to do good works. We can’t accept Christ and still live the way we lived. Now that we are in Christ, we live according to His ways on His terms. If a person claims to be a believer and yet we don’t see any change at all in his life, we have reasons to doubt his claim. I am not saying that we become sinless but we look at our lives and see that we sin less. That’s why the book of James tell us that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead… faith without deeds is dead.”[5] If Jesus is our Lord, we are to obey Him. The call to faith in Christ is the call to follow Him. That’s a pattern in the book of Titus. In his greeting to Titus, Paul talked about “the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness”.[6] In Titus 3:8, Paul gave this instruction to Titus: “I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.” So, the grace that saves is the grace that works.
Let’s read verses 11 to 13 again. I think the New King James Version brought out the sense of the passage. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”. The main verb is “live” and “denying” and “looking” are participles. So, grace teaches us to live for Christ and simultaneously with that we are to deny sin and look forward to His second coming.
First we are to live soberly or selfcontrolled. That has to do with our relation to ourselves. Note that the other side of the coin is we are to deny “worldly lusts” or passions. When we read “lusts” we tend to equate that with sexual sins. That idea of immorality is included but “worldly lusts” are not limited to that. We tend to be smug because we think we are free from worldly lusts just because we don’t look at Internet porn or we don’t have sex with someone other than our spouse. It can also apply to the way we handle our money. Maybe the reason we got into debt is because we are not content or we are covetous. We lust for money. We are so passionate for possessions. That’s why on May 16, Saturday, 7:30 in the evening, we will start a free, 7-part series on “Managing our Finances God’s Way”. Everyone is invited. We need to learn how to live with self-control as far as our finances is concerned. The grace that saves is the grace that works in OURSELVES.
Second we are to live righteously. That has to do with our relation to others. Follow the trend of Titus chapter 2. When we read verses 1 to 10 we see how we are to relate not just with ourselves but with others. For example, in verses 3 to 5, Paul told Titus to teach that “the older women be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be selfcontrolled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” The older generation should set an example to the younger generation in their words and works. Then in verses 9 and 10, slaves should have a better relationship with their masters. They should “be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted”. Slaves then refer to employees now and masters then refer to employers now. Now that we are believers we should have a higher work ethic. After talking about changed relationships, Paul then gave the reason why: “FOR the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” Sadly, people do not want to become believers because they saw how believers relate with each other. Instead of the believers forgiving each other, we are fighting against one another. Grace ought to change how we treat each other. The grace that saves is the grace that works in our relationship with OTHERS.
Third, we are to live godly. That has to do with our relationship with God. We are to live with fear or great respect for Him. As I have said, we are not in a religion. We are in a relationship. Every day we live, we are to live closer and closer in obedience to God, not farther and farther from Him in disobedience. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The grace of God was an abused doctrine in Crete, so Paul paused to undergird his admonitions with a doctrinal foundation. There are some who would turn grace into license, teaching that Christians can live in sin since they are no longer under Law. Of course, the believer is not under Law but under grace; but grace brings an even greater responsibility. How can the Christian deliberately sin against the grace and kindness of God?”[7] The grace that saves is the grace that works in our relationship with ourselves, with others and with GOD.
As we “live selfcontrolled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” at the same time we are to “say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” and to “wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. We can’t obey and disobey at the same time. We can’t live for God and at the same time live against God. We have to choose to obey or disobey. Of course, most if not all of us life seems to live a pattern of obedience and disobedience taking turns in our lives. There are times we feel like we are taking two steps forward and then taking one step backward. Someone said, “The more we say yes to sin, the more we say no to God. The more we say yes to God, the more we say no to sin.” I pray that we would more and more say yes to God and no to sin… that we would become more and more obedient to the Lord. And as we struggle in this uphill climb called the Christian life, we tend to lost sight of why we are doing what we are doing. We get discouraged every time we fail, each time we fall. The Bible tells us to look forward, to live expectantly “for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. It will keep us going. We don’t want to be ashamed when He arrives. More than that, we should be excited to see Him, the source of the grace that saves us and works in us.
So, have we experienced this grace that saves? Have we put our faith in the Lord Jesus as our Savior? What is it that is keeping us from allowing this grace to work in our lives? Is there any sin that we need to ask God for forgiveness and to renounce? In what area are we not experiencing this grace at work? In our relationship with ourselves, with others or with God? What’s so good about this Good News? This news is so good because it encompasses all aspects of our lives! We need to share it with others. We should be excited to tell them about this amazing grace!
Brothers and sisters, the grace that SAVES is the grace that WORKS in our relationship with OURSELVES, with OTHERS and with GOD.
Let us pray…
[1]“Death by Deism” by Collin Hansen (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/aprilweb-only/116-11.0.html?start=1)
[2]All Bible verses are from the New International Version, unless otherwise noted.
[3]Titus 1:16
[4][4]Cleon L. Rogers, Jr. and Cleon Rogers III, “The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament.”
[5]James 2:17, 26.
[6]Titus 1:1
[7]Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament.
