“God’s Grace: More Than Forgiveness”
CCCAG July 21st, 2019
Scripture- Titus 2:11-14
Today we set out on a four-week journey that has the potential to change our lives. Together, we will examine the Scriptures and listen to the Holy Spirit as we consider the topic of God’s grace.
Prayer- understand and live by God’s grace
Have you ever taken the time to think deeply about grace?
Have you ever taken the time to study God’s Word about grace?
This is a journey for all of us to take together: seasoned saints, new believers, and those who are exploring whether the good news of Jesus is really true. The topic of God’s grace is vast and certainly much more than we can cover in four weeks.
As we begin this journey together, I hope that it will be the start of a wonderful time of learning and entering into God’s grace in greater and greater measure.
One of the big ideas for today is to focus on and discover that God’s grace is more than just forgiveness; God sends his grace to teach us a new way to live.
I’m going to frame this by telling you a story, and it might be difficult for some as this is unfortunately a common occurrence in our world.
It’s a story about an abusive husband and his wife. The husband was a rage-aholic, given to fits of anger and, horribly in those moments sometimes became violent.
Like the time he slammed his wife up against the kitchen cabinets.
Or the time he slapped her across the face and then, in horror and shame, ran off to find a quiet place to tremble and cry.
The wife, a Christian, forgave her husband each time he came home.
Her husband would say (quite accurately), “I don’t know what comes over me.” The wife loved her husband deeply, and saw the many good sides of this flawed man, but she lived in fear that the next rage-riot might bring a harm that would not heal.
She stayed with her husband because, each time, he sincerely begged for forgiveness. She felt her duty as a Christian was to forgive and extend grace.
And there is the problem- The only thing she knew of God’s grace was forgiveness.
She had been told all her life that she was powerless over sin and that God’s grace came to forgive and restore her relationship with God. She was enough of a Christian to understand that, if God had forgiven her, she should extend the same grace to others, especially her husband.
She knew a small piece of God’s grace, but only enough to put her in danger.
It’s God’s grace that forgives and restores.
Forgiveness is an awesome result of God’s grace. WE should extend the same forgiveness toward others that God has given us.
But it doesn’t stop at forgiveness
In the story you heard, forgiveness alone was filling this woman with torment.
If we look at the wife in this story, we want to scream, “Get out! It’s not safe!” Any sane Christian understands the woman has no duty to remain at home and risk injury or death because of some notion of grace, expressed as constant forgiveness.
Grace truly realized means a changed life.
If we look at the husband in this story, we see a man trapped in thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that will harm everyone he loves and ruin his own life, as well.
A sympathetic view of the husband understands that he, too, is a tormented soul in desperate need of help—help beyond merely wiping clean his sinful slate. The most gracious thing his wife could do would be to move out and demand that he get the help he needs to overcome his deep anger and pain.
That is why Grace is meant not only for forgiveness, but something that changes our fundamental nature into one that reflects the nature of Christ Himself.
Speaking of Jesus- He is the third member of this marriage.
We could no more imagine Jesus leaving this husband alone in his condition (a captive to anger and fits of rage) than we could imagine Jesus telling a homeless man, “Go your way, be warm and filled,” without giving him food and clothing.
Beyond the characters in this simple story lies a larger question: what about us?
Would a grace-filled God leave us in the condition he finds us?
Would he spend his days reminding us of our shortcomings, demanding, again and again, prayers of repentance and sorrow? Would the loving Creator wave his hand and say, “You are forgiven, now—go and sin no more,” without lifting even one finger to give us His power to gain victory over our sin?
The example I used is extreme and disturbing, but it is a true story, one that’s been repeated over and over in many Christian families. Sometimes an extreme example is necessary to grab our hearts and free our minds.
Does God’s grace mean only forgiveness, or is there something more to his antidote for our sin? Would God leave us alone in our rage, our addictions, or our isolation?
The problem is not with God the Father or with his grace; the problem is our understanding of grace, of God’s ongoing work in our lives.
Jesus will not leave us to ourselves any more than he would leave a beggar in the street. Anyone who suggests so misrepresents the true grace of God.
Grace forgives, but it also guides.
Set aside the question of heaven or hell after we die.
What about heaven or hell while we live? God’s grace is available to lead and guide us right now!
The fabric of everyday life is alive with the grace of God. If we wait until we’ve sinned to call upon the grace of God, we’ve squandered the best part and benefit of grace in this life.
Grace restores, but it also guards.
It also instructs us to deny ungodly ways and teaches us the how-to of life: how to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in this present age.
The Scripture teaches we are saved by grace. The good news is we can experience salvation here and now, as well as there and then. The kingdom of God glides on wings of grace.
The kingdom brings righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17), and best of all, the gracious Holy Spirit wants to leads us into righteousness, peace, and joy in everyday life.
I think one of the hardest concepts that keep us all from the life that God has for us is this-
God’s kingdom is never attained; it is received. Not something worked toward, but given to us freely.
How will we receive the grace of the kingdom today?
The Bible presents a grace that continues to reach into our lives day after day in more ways than we expect.
Our text today is Titus 2:11–14.
It introduces us to grace in ways that are both familiar, and also unfamiliar.
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was writing to a young pastor, Titus. Titus had traveled with Paul, and Titus had been trained by Paul. Titus was now the pastor of the church in Crete, an Island near Greece.
Paul had great affection for this young disciple, calling him “my true child in the faith” (Titus 1:4). Here’s what Paul taught Titus then, and us today about the scope of God’s grace:
Titus 2:11-14
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 self-controlled, 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. (Titus 2:11–14)
In this passage, the word “grace” appears right next to phrases like “self-controlled” and “upright and godly lives.” What kind of grace is this? If grace means only “forgiveness,” why does the Scripture also talk about learning a new way to live?
Most believers are very familiar with “the grace that brings salvation,” but not many have ever heard of a grace that “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions or to live self-controlled, upright and Godly lives.”
Most believers are familiar with a saving grace capable of securing heaven after we die, but have never considered the possibility that God’s grace can nurture us in this present age.
Let’s look at the four key points of this passage:
1). Grace brings salvation. This is the part of God’s grace most Christians know. And it’s wonderful. It’s the Gospel, and the very thing we should be living to tell others about.
It’s foundational to our faith; (Eph 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”
This is the starting point of our life in Christ, but it’s just the start. The good news gets even better!
The 2nd point-
2). Grace teaches us to say no. God doesn’t want us forever trapped in a cycle of sin and forgiveness. Grace keeps on working for us and teaching us how to resist temptation and ungodliness.
That’s right, we can call on the grace of God before we fall into sin!
And that gives us a picture of the Father heart of God. So many people want to accuse God of being evil in wanting us to live above the wickedness of our world. “I would never follow a God who wouldn’t let me do “This” or I would never follow a God that tells me I have to do that”.
But God isn’t teaching us to say no to steal our fun. His grace empowers us to say no to things that left unchecked will ultimately destroy us.
God is our creator, and as our creator He designed us to work within certain specifications.
For example- an engineer designs a bridge to hold so much weight. If a group of truck drivers double their load and try to cross the bridge at the same time, they not only endanger themselves but everyone else using that bridge as they are exceeding the design of the builder.
You and I were created as spiritual being. The spiritual is our true nature. As spirit’s we inhabit these bodies to be able to interact with the physical world God created for us. God designed us as spirits to be intimately connected with Him. We were never, ever designed to carry the weight of sin, and whenever sin comes into our lives, we start the process of collapse.
That collapse in tragic in our own lives, but as we live in community, it also effects everyone else around us.
That’s why saying no to sin is the start of grace’s work in our lives, but next we find the 3rd point of this scripture-
3). Grace teaches us how to live. There’s more to the Christian life than just saying no to sin. God’s grace is available to replace our sinful habit patterns with self-control, so we can live upright and godly lives. This is not the result of trusting in our works, but rather allowing grace to teach us.
Abstinence gets a really bad rap in our culture. It’s mostly referring to teenage premarital sex but when it comes to grace, it starts with saying no to things that are not a part of God’s character, but it’s end is a new way of thinking and feeling which automatically will produce a different response and action.
It’s a completely different way to live- one that is lead by God’s grace through the constantly empowering of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Let me briefly illustrate this-
I don’t spend my days constantly reminding myself not to say the “F-bomb” or other words that in American culture are considered to be profanity. Instead, God has allowed grace to change my heart so those words aren’t even in my thoughts and therefore don’t fly out of my mouth.
See the difference- using grace only for forgiveness would have me praying dozens of times a day for forgiveness only to fail again and again, where as the right understanding of grace would change me so I don’t go there in the first place.
That’s amazing grace, but there is one more thing to look at-
The 4th thing is
4). Grace fills us with hope.
Do you see the connection in these verses?
Life in Christ is not meant to be a desperate fight against sin, nor even a narrow focus on godly living.
That’s religion.
God calls us into relationship with HIM.
In verse 13 we see that it’s God grace that fills us with hope—hope for this life, and the next.
Our misunderstanding of grace only being available for forgiveness would lead us to let sin rule over us all the days of our lives?
Why would God’s grace leave us in such a wretched condition; naked and bleeding on the side of the road?
God’s grace is after more than wiping the slate clean week after week. The grace of God wants to change us and teach us a new way to live.
Another way of seeing it is this-
Grace is the teacher, we are the students, and all of life is the classroom.
If we possess the humility to become learners, God’s grace not only transports us to heaven when we die, it brings heaven close to us while we live.
This is part of the good news; grace not only forgives our sin, grace teaches us how to live a life that is no longer captive to sin!
Too many believers are stuck in an unhealthy pattern.
We choose sin, which is bad enough. Worse still, afterward, a voice in our head tries to drag us down deeper still. It’s the voice of the Adversary.
He whispers enticement before our sin and shouts condemnation after.
His is a voice skilled in subtle influence, followed by paralyzing guilt. It’s a voice filled with accusation. He is a liar and the Father of Lies; Jesus said lies are his native tongue.
Sin brings death, it’s true, but God’s grace wipes away the penalty of death and the stain of sin. Even better, grace does more. It raises us to life and teaches us a new way to live.
This is the glory of God. He speaks to us even in our sin. The Great Physician can even use our sin to lead us toward restoration.
God’s message is restoration, and what’s more, he takes our defeat and turns it into the very fabric of instruction.
God wants us to learn from our past sins, and “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).
Have you ever learned from your sin?
This is grace.
God is not only ready to forgive; he is eager to teach. If we are open to God’s voice, even our sin become grace in his hands. He will show us the path and correct our steps, not by insisting on obedience, but by revealing our hearts.
Not by counting ours sins against us, but by teaching us a new way to live.
I found out this by raising my own children. My oldest daughter Haley is very stubborn and willful, and it started from the moment she could walk. In the apartment we were living in, there were 4 carpeted steps to the front door. There was no way to gate the area, and she kept wanting to stand right next to them and try to walk/crawl down them. We kept telling her- don’t go by the steps or you will fall, but as soon as we picked her up and moved her away from the stairs, right back she went until one time she fell and faceplanted and slid headfirst down the stairs.
She wasn’t hurt, but she learned not to go by the stairs anymore.
God allows us to experience sin sometimes.
I want to be very clear- it’s not His will for us to sin- that’ never the case. But God will use it to reveal the source of stubbornness within us and heal the weakness that led to sin.
If I choose greed, Jesus wants to reveal my insecurity, and heal the weakness that led to sin.
If I choose lust, Jesus wants to reveal my desire, and heal the weakness that led to sin.
If I choose judgment, Jesus wants to reveal my pride, and heal the weakness that led to sin.
Do you get the idea-God wants to heal the weaknesses that lead to sin?
That’s grace in action.
That shows us that what God asks of us, he empowers within us.
Jesus says, “Go, and sin no more.” He also makes this command possible. He takes us to the source and gives us hope.
This is a kind of resurrection, a resurrection from a life of sin. Resurrection isn’t just for Jesus; it’s for us. It’s not just for the end of days; it’s so we can walk in newness of life.
Application-
Finally, our application of these verses can be very personal: we can pray, listen, and learn.
You can call it your homework for the week
Let me explain:
In our daily prayers, we should include prayers like this: “Spirit of God, please open my eyes and heart to recognize your grace-works in my life.”
We can be confident that God will answer prayers like this one. After our time of prayer, it is our opportunity to learn.
Make a few notes of what came to your mind. What did you discover about God as you prayed and listened? What did you discover about yourself?
I’m going to challenge you to do this, and guarantee you this- God will lead you toward a larger understanding of grace.
This exercise is not about merely gaining biblical knowledge (as important as that may be).
It’s about opening our eyes, ears, and lives to the deeper grace God has in store.
God’s grace wants to teach us a new way to live!
It’s not going to be perfect. Like toddlers, it will take us time to get our legs under us and learn to walk before we run. We will still stumble and fall along the way, but there is always grace for forgiveness and growth as we keep our eyes and trust on our Savior Jesus.
We are going to end with a song today and then I’ll pray for dismissal, but if anyone wants prayer after the service please stick around and we will be available.
