EXPECTATIONS For GODLY LIVING-VI—Titus 2:1-15
Attention:
In order for God’s people to properly elevate & honor God thru Jesus Christ, there are certain ‘aspects’ of faithful living that that they are EXPECTED to fulfill!
Need:
There is an ultimate ‘fulfillment & satisfaction’ that CAN come to your life!
BUT that ‘fulfillment & satisfaction’ can ONLY come to you thru YOUR participation in GOD’s Expectations for Godly Living!
Titus was exhorted by the apostle Paul, to expose God’s people to the expectations for godly living.
All God’s people are answerable to His expectations for godly living.
What are some expectations for godly living by God’s people?
What are some expectations for godly living?
Last week we found:
That those ‘expectations for godly living’, are lived-out thru APPROPRIATE...
1. DIRECTION(:1, 15)
2. MATURITY(:2-8)—
3. BOND-SERVICE / Employment(:9-10)
AND today we’ll find that:
4—Another expectation for godly living is...
APPROPRIATE MOTIVATION(:11-13)
Explanation:(:11-13)Rationale
2:11—“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,”
2:12—“teaching us that, denying ungodliness & worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, & godly in the present age,”
2:13—“looking for the blessed hope & glorious appearing of our great God & Savior Jesus Christ,”
?Why should ‘God’s people’ live the way God expects them to?...
2:11—“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,”
“For”—The previous expectations/arguments only hold sway, because of a past action of God’s, that He “graciously” provided, “for” your sake!
God’s “grace” is what “brings” “salvation” to & for “all men.”
“The grace of God” has been awe-inspiringly manifested(made plain/revealed/made visible) to us in the person of “Jesus Christ”!
God’s “gracious” “salvation”—Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord’s Christ—“has appeared to all men.” So His presence is a historical reality which cannot be argued against!...
Once God’s “salvation” in Christ, had been initially accomplished, it encompassed all people of all time & remains in force even until now, & into the future on earth!
**So, Everyone is answerable to YHWH God, whether they personally acknowledge Him or not!
*So it is up to You to decide whether He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord!
2:12—“teaching us that, denying ungodliness & worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, & godly in the present age,”
“The grace of God that brings salvation” to “all men”(:11), is the ultimate instructor(“teaches”) of those who are receivers of that “grace.” BUT just because “teaching” is accepted & received, does not mean that we are undergoing some psychological ‘behavioral manipulation.’ Instead God’s “teaching” is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer!
“Deny”—To disregard your own interests, or to go contrary to your desire.
•God’s “grace” in Christ Jesus instructs us to cautiously & actively “live” out a continual “denial” of everything that originates from “ungodliness.” God-deniers are utterly consumed by the “worldly lusts” of “ungodliness”!
“Ungodliness”—A Lack of reverence & respect for God himself & all that is associated with God.
“Worldly lusts”—Are pervasive, ubiquitous, ever-present, global, universal, flesh-driven desires, that simultaneously serve self, while dismissing God along with His revelation of Himself.
•God’s Grace in Christ Jesus, instructs us to “Live” particularly & specifically, in defiance of that “ungodliness & worldly lust” that surround us. Such a defiance is a result of the economy established by “the grace” which has appeared(:11)....
Instead of living for self & the world, the “Grace” of Christ Jesus, granted to God’s people, instructs them:
• To “Live” Sensibly & be of sound mind(“soberly”)—as a person in whom complete & perfect soundness is attributed to God in all His ways.
•To “Live” “Righteously”(justifiably/rightly/properly)—as a person in whom God is truly justifiable & right in all His perfections.
•To “Live” “Godly”(dutifully/loyally/devoutly)—as a person in whom God is truly ‘Lord’ of your life.
...“in the present age,”
This “present age” is the ‘church “age.”
The ‘church “age” is the same “age” in which Paul wrote these words to Titus.
The ‘church “age” will continue until God wields His final judgment upon earth.
?What is keeping YOU from being Motivated toward living “godly in” this “present age”?
2:13—“looking for the blessed hope & glorious appearing of our great God & Savior Jesus Christ,”
The catalyst for a truly godly-Christian lifestyle, is our ‘super-natural’ world view/perspective/vision, granted to us by the sacrifice of Christ, & empowering us thru God’s Holy Spirit.
A person’s world view/perspective/vision determines their lifestyle!
Those who live within the bounds of God’s “grace” in “Christ”, will continuously look for the “appearing” of “Christ” in the full glory of His deity—Jesus is openly declared to be God, & Savior, & Christ(Messiah).....
The “grace” that is ours thru “our great God & Savior Jesus Christ.”, is seen by many as ‘incredible’, ‘unbelievable’, & therefore ‘unapproachable’ & ‘untouchable.’
•Whether this is a designation of Jesus’ deity, versus a separation of “our great God” from “Savior Jesus Christ”, has been debated by biblical scholars for centuries. However that it speaks to the Divinity of Christ, holds more credence...
That Jesus might be referred to directly as “God” is not what determines Jesus’ divinity(possessing the same essence & nature of God)!
•Jesus’ divinity “is established by His supernatural birth; His sinless life; His fulfillment of OT messianic prophecy; His demonstrated authority over nature, disease, demons, & death; His claim upon the attributes & prerogatives of God. including forgiving sins & judging sinners; & His resurrection from the dead & His heavenly exaltation.”—Lea -&- Griffin, Jr. inNAC?
*AND, His “glorious appearing” is looked upon & readily invited by saved sinners(you & me) as their “blessed hope”!
Heb. 10:23—“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Rom. 8:25—“But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
Heb. 3:14—“For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,”
Argumentation:
2Pet. 1:2-11—“Grace & peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God & of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life & godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory & virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great & precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, & to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours & abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, & has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call & election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.”
1Pet. 2:11-12—“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners & pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
1Pet. 1:15-16—“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.””
1Pet. 2:9-10—“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
Illustration:
There are Motivating factors tied to having a home with a grassed yard. Taking care of the grass adds neatness & organization to the property. If the grass remains uncut & unfed for any length of time, the weeds that are also in the grass, can take it over. Healthy grass helps keep weeds at a minimum. So home-owners & renters regularly aerate, re-seed, fertilize, & cut their grass so it will be healthy. Healthy grass continually grows, so we commit to continually mowing it, in order to keep it neatly manicured. APPROPRIATE MOTIVATION
We know a young family whose first house was built in the forties or fifties & had a two-car garage. The garage floor was a concrete slab at ground level, but the rest of the house has a crawlspace.
•Some years ago the garage was converted to living space. When it rains heavily, the runoff flows down the slope & piles up against the double doors of the room that is built at floor-level. Great potential for mold!
•The occasional flooding & musty smells, become reminders & ‘undeniable’ motivators for having the land around the former garage properly graded, so the rain will run around the house instead of puddling at the doors, & flooding the room! APPROPRIATE MOTIVATION
?What MOTIVATES You in your service to God?
Application:
?Is YOUR MOTIVATION/Rationale APPROPRIATE for ‘godly’ living?
?Are YOU meeting God’s expectations for honoring Him thru YOUR life??
*NOT ONLY only is there an ‘expectation for godly living’ thru APPROPRIATE MOTIVATION(:11-13)
BUT:
5—Another expectation for godly living is...
APPROPRIATE SACRIFICE(:14)
Explanation:(:14)
2:14—“who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed & purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
Jesus voluntarily “gave Himself”(body(surrender) & blood(life sacrifice)) for the sake of those who experience God’s grace.
Jesus “gave Himself” on the Cross, in order to take His people AWAY FROM(“redeem”/‘ransom’) the personal pressure of continuing to commit / perform / do “lawless deeds”—that are committed in the flesh, in opposition to God!
Jesus “gave Himself” in order(that we would be afforded an opportunity) to produce/refine/ “purify” “His own special people” from the midst of fallen/sinful humanity...A group of people completely & freely dedicated to Himself.
Because of the residing presence of the Holy Spirit within these “purified” people of God, they are all supernaturally empowered to be “zealous for good deeds.” That passion(“zealous”) is by means of the guidance & power of the Holy Spirit Who indwells every believer.
Ephesians 2:10—“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Heb. 10:24—“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love & good works,”
*What blood-bought Christians ‘really’ ‘SACRIFICE’—What they ‘really’ Give up / Surrender—is a dependence upon their flesh! And THAT Sacrifice is what ‘opens the door’ to make them “zealous for”(passionate about) the “good deeds” that God has ordained for them!
Argumentation:
*JESUS’ SACRIFICE:
Rom. 3:23-26—“for all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just & the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Mat. 20:28—““...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, & to give His life a ransom for many.””
1Tim. 2:5-6—“For there is one God & one Mediator between God & men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,”
1Pet. 3:18—“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,”
Rev. 1:5—“& from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, & the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us & washed us from our sins in His own blood,”
Heb. 9:26, 28—“...but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”..... “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many....””
2Cor. 5:14-15, 17—“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; & He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them & rose again.”..... “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Gal. 1:3, 4—“Grace to you & peace from God the Father & our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God & Father,”
Mat. 26:28—Jesus said:—“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
1John 2:2—“And He Himself[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, & not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
Php. 2:5-11—“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, & coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself & became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him & given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, & of those on earth, & of those under the earth, & that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Isa. 53:4-8, 11—“Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, & afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed & He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison & from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”..... “...By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.”
Jn. 10:11-15—“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming & leaves the sheep & flees; & the wolf catches the sheep & scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling & does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; & I know My sheep, & am known by My own. “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; & I lay down My life for the sheep.
Jn. 6:47-51—“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, & are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it & not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; & the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.””
Gal. 3:13-14—“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham[“all the families of the earth”] might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Eph. 5:2—“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us & given Himself for us, an offering & a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
1Pet. 1:18-21—“knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish & without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead & gave Him glory, so that your faith & hope are in God.”
*OUR ‘SACRIFICE’:
1Pet. 2:11-12—“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners & pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Rom. 12:1—“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
Eph. 4:1-3—“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness & gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Rom. 8:13-14—“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Rom.13:13-14—“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry & drunkenness, not in lewdness & lust, not in strife & envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, & make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
2Cor. 6:16-7:1—“...As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons & daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Illustration:
*Some guys have a real dilemma when it comes to transportation after they become parents.
•Parents must decide—‘I want to keep my motorcycle, but we need a minivan.’ Are they willing to choose looks & appearance, instead of function? APPROPRIATE SACRIFICE.
Marriage is an invitation to ‘appropriate’ sacrifice. To sacrifice self-service for the sake of two who are now ‘one’(Gen. 2:24; Mat. 19:4-6;Mk. 10:6-9; Eph. 5:28-31)
Application:
?Is YOUR SACRIFICE APPROPRIATE for ‘godly’ living?
?Are YOU meeting God’s expectations for honoring Him thru YOUR life??
A ‘Warning’ application from 2:1-14.>.>.>.>.>.>.>
&
CONCLUSION:>.>.>.>.>.>.>
** A ‘Warning’ application from 2:1-14.>.>.>.>.>.>.>
•None of the ‘Expectations’ of :2-10, & :12-13, can ever be met thru your own human ability...fleshly power, talent, or expertise!
•You will NEVER experience your soul’s satisfaction by your own means. You will NEVER reach your full potential as a person, by following the ‘do’s & don’ts’ of legalism! Likewise, you will NEVER reach your full potential as a person, by wallowing in the so-called ‘freedoms’ offered to you by liberalism!
•NO ‘religion’, that is empowered by your own ability, will EVER provide God’s potential or God’s fulfillment for your life!....
*The deep & eternal satisfaction of the soul can only be had/possessed by those who live by God’s “grace” in Christ Jesus!
•The deep & eternal satisfaction of the human soul is designed for us by God. And can only be experienced by those who are “looking for” & “loving”(2Tim. 4:8), “the blessed hope & glorious appearing of” “our great God & Savior Jesus Christ”—the One “who gave Himself for us”!...
Only by personally & willingly taking hold of the redemption He affords & offers you, will you be set free!
•The deep & eternal satisfaction of the human soul is only for those who lovingly & longingly welcome the establishment of God’s Kingdom, in God’s manner!
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
In order for ‘God’s people’ to properly elevate & honor God thru Jesus Christ, there are ‘Expectations’ to be met!
Action:
Some expectations for godly living are...
4. APPROPRIATE MOTIVATION(:11-13)
5. APPROPRIATE SACRIFICE(:14)
1. APPROPRIATE DIRECTION(:1, 15)
2. APPROPRIATE MATURITY(:2-8)—
A.-OLDER MEN(i) & WOMEN(ii)(:2-4)
B.-YOUNG WOMEN(i) & MEN(ii)(:4-8)
3. APPROPRIATE BOND-SERVICE/Employment(:9-10)
Installment #6—Pt#s 4-5—presented 03/19/2023am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 28512
