DEVOTED TO DOING GOOD
September 12, 2010
Isaac Butterworth
Titus 3:3-8 (NIV)
3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And 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. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
If you threw the water in a glass against the face of a rock, not much would happen. But submerge that rock under a flowing stream, and, over time, the rock would change. The change might be imperceptible to the eye, but it would be inevitable. Scientists even have a name for this process. They call it erosion. And it is fascinating to think that the fluid through which you may pass your hand without much resistance can actually reconfigure the shape of something as hard as a rock.
Events stream over our lives and shape us just as water shapes the stones it washes over. But, of course, we are not stones; we are people. We do not have to be passive in the face of life’s coursing influences. We can respond. We can take the initiative. We can intend to some degree what life will and will not do to us.
But be assured of this: Something will shape us. Just as gravity and the passing of time has its effect on our bodies, there are forces that impact our souls. Spiritual formation is not an option. Your spirit will be formed by something; you cannot escape this reality. But you can have a say in the matter of what shape your spirit takes. Harry Emerson Fosdick began one of his sermons with the words: ‘What life in the long run does to us depends on what life finds in us.’
So, what will life find in you? When pressures mount in intensity, when you are beset by an unexpected reversal, when the demands of living outweigh the resources you have for meeting those demands, what will you do?
Our daughter-in-law, Becky, has participated at times in triathlon competitions. The triathlon is an endurance event in which you swim a certain distance, ride your bike a certain distance, and finally, and without resting, run a certain distance. It is a very demanding test of your abilities. And I can tell you: Becky didn’t just decide one day to get up off the sofa and tackle the triathlon. She prepared herself for it. She practiced. She spent months getting ready. She trained her body for the grueling ordeal of the triathlon. Everyone understands this. If you want to build your body’s strength and endurance, you prepare. Why do we not see that the same is required in the realm of the spiritual? In 1 Timothy 4:8, the Apostle Paul says, ‘Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’
So, how can we train in godliness? Just as we adopt certain exercises for physical training, we adopt certain exercises for spiritual training. So, let’s think about this for a few moments. As we look at Paul’s words in Titus, chapter 3, let’s consider three measures you can take in doing spiritual formation on purpose.
I. Assess Where You Are
First of all, assess where you are. Look again at Titus 3, verse 3: ‘At one time,’ Paul writes, ‘we...were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions.... We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another’ (Titus 3:3).
Now, you and I may not be living at this moment in a state of ‘malice and envy,’ but we are capable of it, aren’t we? Let someone else cut us off in traffic, and see what we do. Let someone else get the credit for our hard work, let someone else’s needs interfere with our plans, let our spouse or our children or our parents say something that we take as a criticism, let some little thing disrupt our day, and see how it goes for us. When we lose control of our circumstances, we often react and lose control of ourselves. The apostle Paul says in another place, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’ (Rom. 7:15). We all know what he means. We have all experienced this. So, what can be done about it?
Consider what John Calvin says. According to Calvin, the shape of holiness is a pattern of mortification, on the one hand, and vivification, on the other. Mortification involves dying to self and sin; vivification is coming alive to righteousness in Christ. According to Calvin, our union with Christ takes the shape of death and resurrection. We die to sin; we are alive to Christ.
The 1549 Book of Common Prayer has a petition that reads: ‘Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith, even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name....’
Calvin cites Romans 8:13, which says, ‘...If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.’
In other words, to gain life, we must pass through death. To know resurrection, we must experience crucifixion. When we assess where we are each and every day, it becomes clear that some things in us must die so that other things may come to life.
II. Affirm Where You Want to Be
If the first measure in a program of intentional spiritual formation is to assess where we are, the second is to affirm where we want to be. Let’s turn again to Titus, chapter 3, where we read, beginning with verse 4: ‘...When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us...through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.’
Paul talks here about how God ‘saved us,’ namely, ‘through the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit,’ but that’s not all he talks about. He also emphasizes why God saved us. And that is: so that ‘we might [have] the hope of eternal life.’
What do we mean when we speak of ‘eternal life.’ We refer, of course, to its duration. Eternal life is everlasting life; it goes on forever. But that’s not the only meaning of ‘eternal life,’ nor really the best meaning. The term also refers to the quality of our life in Christ. In the original language of the New Testament, the words ‘eternal life’ literally mean ‘the life of the ages’ (he aionios zoe); it is ‘the life of the age to come.’ It is life lived now the same way we will live it in eternity. This is where we want to be.
Look at how Jesus defines ‘eternal life.’ He doesn’t speak of its quantity but, rather, of its quality. ‘This is eternal life,’ he says: ‘that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’ (John 17:3). So, eternal life is a life in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ -- a relationship that molds our life here and now. It is a life in which we are formed in the likeness of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And this is where we want to be, spiritually speaking. We want to be living the life of the age to come. We want to reflect the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Go back to verse 3, where Paul talks about the foolish disobedience in which we are ‘enslaved by all kinds of passions.’ He mentions how we lived in malice, envy, and hatred. Where’s the quality of life in that? The attitudes and actions listed in verse 3 reflect life that is characteristic of this age, a distorted and damaged existence, in which people manipulate one another and hurt each other. But we have been freed from all of that, freed to live ‘the life of the age to come.’ And what is life in the age to come like? Simply look at the vices listed in verse 3 and consider their opposites. If you do that, you will have at least a starter list of the virtues of a life shared with God: wisdom, obedience, self-control, kindness, contentment. If you want to move from where you are, afflicted by tendencies to malice and and envy and such, where is it that you want to move to? Where do you want to be? You want a quality of life -- don’t you? -- in which the excellencies of our Lord Jesus are revealed. What you want is a life of virtue.
III. Adopt a Strategy to Get You There
So what strategy will get us there? Consider again verse 8. There Paul says to Titus, who is a pastor charged with the responsibility of teaching God’s people -- he says 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.’ There you have it. Intentional spiritual formation involves devotion to doing good.
So we need a plan. We need a strategy. We need spiritual practices. Chuck Gallozzi says, ‘We are [like] diamonds in the rough, uncut but with [great] potential.... Over the years we cut away at our undesirable traits, [thus] exposing many facets of [God’s] goodness. The brilliant diamond that we are shaping is our character. Our final creation is fashioned by [God’s grace],’ and every choice we make is a cut of the diamond [Gallozzi’s quote edited].
How do we make those choices? How do we fashion our lives into a diamond that is brilliant with God’s illumination? I want to propose a simple exercise that you and I can do at the end of each and every day. I call it a daily review, and it has five steps:
First, find a quiet place where you can be alone for about fifteen minutes. Or, you could even do this with another person if you like. A family could even do this. But you must find a place where you won’t be disturbed, and then you begin by acknowledging the presence of Jesus in the day that is just past. You might say something as simple as, ‘Lord, I know you have been with me today, and I thank you for that.’
Then, observe your day with him. Ask yourself two questions: one, When did I listen to Jesus’ voice today? and, two, When did I resist listening to his voice today? And give yourself time to reflect on those two questions. You may even want to write down your answers in a journal.
Next, thank him for the gifts of the day. Go back over the last twenty-four hours in your mind, and recount the blessings -- some large, some small, no doubt -- and give him thanks.
Fourth, ask him for healing and mercy in specific areas of your life. It may be a relationship that needs mending. It may be a health issue that needs his attention. It may be something else. Whatever it is, ask him to cleanse and restore you.
Finally, just as you acknowledged the presence of the Lord in the day just past, acknowledge his presence in the day ahead. ‘Lord,’ you might say, ‘as you have been with me today, so you will be with me tomorrow.’ And, again, thank him.
This is a simple exercise, but if you do it with regularity, it will be like a healing stream, washing over your spirit and shaping you into the person God wants you to be.
This is what we want. Our souls will be molded and shaped one way or another. We are all in a process of spiritual formation, whether we realize it or not. Why not take the initiative and ask God to form us, little by little, into the likeness of Christ.
