It's What Grace Does!

How the Church Family Functions....

 

A study of the NT book of Titus

by Pastor Frank Rice

Titus 2:11-15

We’re fairly familiar with the insurance commercial that utilizes a similar phrase to the one above in its ads. (Recall a charming little green guy.) It seems to work for them. “It’s what they do.” Grace does certain things in the lives of those who appropriate it. Grace is not stagnant.

 

v      Grace is God’s unmerited and undeserved good treatment, His free favor and spontaneous action toward needy sinners.

1.      His grace appeared at the incarnation (John 1:14-17)! God’s grace “became visible, came to light, became clearly known.” God’s grace suddenly broke in on man’s moral darkness.

2.      His grace appears always and only in the person of Jesus Christ! Apart from Him there is no grace!

3.      His grace has appeared to “all men” in no way implies that all men recognize and appropriate it! Men must make choices.

 

v      Since grace is a gift, it must be appropriated as such (Eph 2:8)!

1.      Grace must be received and welcomed by personal faith!

2.      Grace provides salvation for those willing to receive it. Every experience of grace/ salvation is similar yet very different!

 

v      The grace of God is personified as a teacher! Grace continually instructs her students by telling them, “Do this! Do not do this!”

 

v      The grace of God makes ethical demands on believers!

1.      We’re expected to deny ungodliness, to say “no” to irreverence and arrogance, to reject ungodly thoughts, words, and actions.

2.      We’re expected to deny worldliness, to say “no” to cravings that characterize the unsaved, renounce desires for pleasures and values derived from this worldly system which is hostile to God.

3.      We’re expected to live soberly, to say “yes” to sobriety and self-control! Clear thinking results in wise choices.

4.      We’re expected to live righteously, to say “yes” to fulfilling the demands of truth and justice in our relationships with others.

5.      We’re expected to live godly, to say “yes” to living a life fully devoted to God in reverence and loving obedience to Him!

 

v      Grace must be more than a theological cliché or catchword!

1.      God’s grace is active and powerful. It sustains in time of need (2 Cor 12:9), provides strength (1 Cor 15:10; 2 Tim 2:1), produces thanksgiving and glory to God (2 Cor 4:15), affects our conversations (Col 4:6), and enables us to live holy lives (2 Cor 1:12).

2.      The goal of theological study is to increase our knowledge of God. The goal of increasing our knowledge of God is changed lives and obedient service.

 

v      The return of Christ instills confidence, assurance, and hope.

1.      Our blessed hope is His glorious appearing, and it motivates us to godly living!

2.      Our great God and Savior is Jesus Christ which motivates us to godly living as we anticipate His coming (1 John 3:1-3)!

 

v      The deity of Christ guarantees hope!

1.      The fact of His deity is established,” for those willing to embrace by faith the available evidence, by his supernatural birth; his sinless life; his fulfillment of Old Testament messi­anic prophecy; his demonstrated authority over nature, disease, demons, and death; his claim upon the attributes and prerogatives of God, includ­ing forgiving sins and judging sinners; and his resurrection from the dead and his heavenly exaltation.” (Brenneman)

2.      The grammar of this verse clearly teaches the deity of Jesus the Christ. He is who He, and the scriptures, say He is!

3.      “I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C S Lewis)

 

v      He gave Himself for us, on our behalf and as our substitute!

1.      He gave Himself to purchase us, to rescue us from a life of self-willed defiance of God’s standards, sin (1 John 3:4).

2.      He gave Himself to purify us and to cleanse us from all defilement so that we could serve Him (1 John 1:9).

 

v      He gave Himself to prosper us and give us a new identity and a new purpose, so that we would be eager for every good work.

 

v      The appropriate character and conduct of Christians (vv. 1-14) is something to be continually stressed! We need continual stress on practical Christian responsibility! (Three present imperatives!)

 

v      The full “speech arsenal” is to be utilized! Christians must be urged to apply truth practically, encouraged as they do so, and confronted when they neglect or reject God’s Word.

 

v      Christians, speaker and listeners, must realize the authority for these commands is from above and must respect that authority.

 

v      Christians must realize the resources needed to accomplish the aforementioned are found in God’s grace. It’s what grace does!

 

Someone wrote a song to wake up a sleepy congregation.

Jesus the Very Thought of Thee

Jesus the very thought of Thee, bores me, I must confess;

Putting You first in all my life int'rests me even less.

I’ll give you time on Sunday morn then I will sing and praise;

But after that, my time's my own Mondays through Saturdays.

Demand no more of me, O Lord there is so much to do;

I have a life, I can't afford to waste it all on You.                     Lori Wick

The above was not meant to be funny but to prod complacent and pretentious believers!

“Knowing what He has done and why He has done it, a Christian who truly loves Christ and looks forward to His return will pay any price to bring his life into conformity with his beloved Lord’s will.”

“Jesus, the very thought of Thee moves me to passionate worship and service.” (True or False)