For The Sake of The Faith
Titus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
“…Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:7, ESV)
Announcements
Campout
LNO —Nov. 22nd decorate for Christmas
Hymn Sing - Dec. 8th
Prayer - Nov. 12th
†CALL TO WORSHIP based on John 15:1-9
Pastor Austin Prince
Minister: I am the vine, Christ calls out, you are the branches.
Congregation: We come because we seek to abide in Christ.
Minister: The branches that remain in him bear much fruit.
Congregation: We come because we long to be faithful disciples.
Minister: Abide in my teaching, Christ calls, and you will abide in me.
Congregation: We come to glorify the Father with our lives.
Minister: Come, all you who know his voice, abide in the true vine.
Congregation: We come to abide in the love of Christ. Let us worship God!
†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION
With what shall we come before you, O Lord? Or bow ourselves in your presence, O you Most High God? Cause us to come unto you in faith: mentioning no other name, pleading no other righteousness, and trusting in no other atonement that the name, righteousness, and atonement of your blessed Son and our adorable Mediator Jesus Christ. In Him, we desire to be found; through Him, we hope for favor with you, and acceptance in your sight. Blessed be your goodness for the mercies of the day, for the blessings of your providence, the comforts of your Spirit, and the privileges we enjoy. Amen. (Augustus Toplady)
†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #234
“The God of Abraham Praise”
†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 1:7-14
Craig Hoffer, Elder
Minister: Christians, we are called not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. He has given us the Holy Spirit, and, by testing, we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Congregation: But many times, and in a variety of ways, we have failed to discern and failed to do God’s will. We have much to confess.
Pastoral Prayer of Confession
Minister: Christians, in him we have redemption through his blood.
Congregation: In him we have the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will. In him we have obtained an inheritance, according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. When we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and believed in him, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. All to the praise of his glory, amen!
CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE James 5:13-20
THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
†PSALM OF PREPARATION #85
“You Were Pleased to Show Your Favor”
SERMON Titus 1:1 // For the Sake of the Faith
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Merciful Lord, the comforter and teacher of your faithful people, increase in your church the desires which you have given, and confirm the hearts of those who hope in you by enabling them to understand the depth of your promises, that all of your adopted sons may even now behold, with the eyes of faith, and patiently wait for, the light which as yet you do not openly manifest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —Ambrose
TEXT Titus 1:1
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
AFTER SCRIPTURE
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
INTRO
As Paul writes this letter to Titus, he is nearing the end of his ministry and of his life. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”, he says in a contemporary letter (2 Timothy 4:7, ESV). What concerns him now is succession, to entrust what he has been laboring for into the hands of other faithful leaders. The book of Titus is about a succession plan.
Titus shepherds the church on the island of Crete, which he planted there along with Paul. This letter is to encourage Titus that if he is going to fulfill his task, he needs to establish leaders (elders) that will help him teach the gospel (which is the focus of ch.1), he needs to teach the people in the congregation how to live the gospel in everyday life (the focus of ch.2), and he needs to maintain a gospel mission that reaches the lost (the focus of ch.3).
In v.1, Paul states that he has a twofold mission: to serve for the sake of the faith that accords with, or produces, godliness.
Before we dive deep into it let me give you an illustration:
C.S. Lewis, in his book The Great Divorce, sets the scene of a man who is at a bus stop in a grey and dreary land, not quite sure why he is there. When people start boarding, he joins them but is shocked to find that the bus begins to fly, taking them to what looks like a vibrant paradise. But when the occupants of the bus try to step out into the sunshine and the intense green grass, they are uncomfortable and oppressed by the glory of it. The light around them is too bright to comfortably look around and the grass beneath them feels to their feet as sharp as razors. This paradise world is real and solid, but the people on the bus from the grey world have become more like shadows, unable to enjoy the true and the beautiful.
In the story, it turns out that the grey land from where they came was hell and the people on the bus were given the grace of seeing hope and life on their journey to eternity. They are met in this paradise land by angels and others who call them to repent of various sins that have dominated their lives, that they still have a shot at heaven. But their lives in the shadowland were defined by self-pity, self-reliance, and pride.
Augustine coined the phrase for this posture — Homo Incurvatus In Se, latin for, Man curved in upon himself. Man, who is made in the image of God and is made for such a remarkable existence and purpose to glorify the majesty and goodness of God in countless ways instead turns in upon themselves, falling short of the glory of God and being lost in the labyrinth of sin and self. They no longer know what they are for or why they exist, so they try to live merely for themselves, and find that their appetites are never satisfied and their whole being is mere survival — life becomes an exhausting game of distraction.
The messengers that these shadowy souls encounter call them to two things: faith, and a real life. Faith to turn away from pride and a life out of the shadowlands into the real and the good. The messengers’ call to these souls is not only that they need to apologize for the things that they had done, but something more — it’s a call to run away from what they have believed completely, to renounce their whole identity and reject even their deepest fearful desires. But they couldn’t do it. Their freedom which they prized so much was ultimately their slavery. Hell, in Lewis’s story, is the unbridled freedom to do what you want. And it turns out that that choice of pride (self-reliance) becomes the fountainhead of all despair, but the posture of humility, to seek the Lord for help and mercy, is the fountainhead of all hope and goodness.
Now, I’ve always been moved by this story, but it is just a story. Yet, it captures well Paul’s ambition and goal of his life’s work. He says in this introduction to Titus that he is a slave to Christ, who lives “for the sake of the faith, …which accords with godliness” (v.1). His ministry is like one of these messengers in Lewis’s story - a twofold ministry that calls people to faith and to the good life (a real life). Faith to run away from pride and hell and into a knowledge of the truth. A call to live out of the shadowlands and into a life of reality with meaning and redemption and usefulness — a life of godliness.
The gospel he contends for breaks the chains and the spell of hell which bind us in unbelief. He’ll go on to write in Titus 2:11-12 that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” (Titus 2:11–12, ESV)
His ministry is a call to faith that says yes to Christ’s salvation and yes to Christ’s commands. A life free from the slavery of sin. But it’s also a life of faith and godliness and self-control that can say no to the poison of sin and self.
Paul is entrusting to Titus a goal not only to make converts, but disciples.
With that background in mind, Paul sums up the goal of this entire book well in the very first verse. Sometimes you hear the phrase that you miss the forest through the trees, but this morning you can see the whole forest of Titus by looking at the single tree of verse 1.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ… (v.1a)
Many of your texts may say servant. That’s accurate, but the word here is slave. Paul is a slave of Christ Jesus. His self-designation accords with what he wishes for others. That Titus’s ministry would be marked by making disciples who would themselves be glad to call themselves slaves. Why? Because Paul knows that sin and self, so-called freedom, is the real slavery.
He makes the case elsewhere in Romans, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15, ESV). “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18–19, ESV). “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, ESV).
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt the shackles around your feet that you are a slave to your flesh? That you are a slave to an addiction, or an attitude, to anger or bitterness? That as much as you want to fight it and break up with it you can’t — it owns you. That is slavery. And like the shadowy figures in Lewis’s story, as much as they are called to turn away from themselves they can’t, they are slaves. But Paul calls himself something unique. A bondservant of Christ. That is, he is a slave that was bought with a price, the very lifeblood of God. He dare not call himself free in the sense that he is independent. That’s one of the main themes of this book. Salvation is just part of our Christian life. Salvation is not a release from the bondage of sin to roam free to nowhere; we are to live godly lives in the present age. Our freedom, our true freedom, our true life, our abundant life. In a sort of remarkable paradox, our freedom is tethered to Christ.
That’s Paul’s ambition for those under his shepherding, too. That they would become like Him — no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness.
He goes on to say that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ
Paul’s title of Apostle was one of authentication. He is a direct inheritor of the ministry and teaching of Christ. Titus is to inherit this ministry, but not that title. He is to proclaim what the gospel was as distributed by the original Apostles. It’s the same for our ministry. We do not call for faith based on what I say, or church tradition says, or what scientific consensus says, or what is palatable in today’s fads. We call for faith and belief in the gospel that “was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3, ESV). The only thing that sets us free is the truth.
That is who Paul is: a slave and an Apostle. And his ministry is, “For the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness (v.1b).
Paul exists, and the ministry that he is entrusting to Titus to build and cultivate through elders, is for the sake of faith.
What matters is what you believe. What you believe matters eternally. We do not buy a ticket to salvation, we do not complete some religious obstacle course for salvation, we are to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Faith is of the utmost importance, and Paul exists for the faith of the elect. Faith is the battle ground of our entire lives. Everything comes at us at the level of trust and belief. And that curved in upon itself curse pulls you with inescapable gravity to trust yourself over God. It’s what the bible calls a hard heart.
And any lie will do as long as it works, compelling you to trust anything or anyone but God. We are tempted to believe that we are no good and that we can’t come to God because He would reject us or judge us harshly, or we believe that coming to Him is unnecessary because we are plenty good on our own. We believe that one more hit of the substance we are abusing will keep us going. We believe that one more promotion or one more pay jump will keep us afloat and ahead and valuable. It we just had more margin with time or vacations or new things we would be at rest. We believe that the people around us exist to serve us and make us happy and whole and we end up crushing those relationships. We believe that we are the stars of our own quirky little show and that everyone is sympathetic to our every trial or triviality. No matter which way the particular narrative goes you cannot escape that the world you live in forces you to be a creature of beliefs. You may say, “I don’t believe that”. But I would simply ask, “is that what you truly believe?” Belief is inescapable.
Who you are is fundamentally defined by what you believe, and it matters eternally.
Paul is reminding Titus that that is why they are laboring, to “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority” (Titus 2:15, ESV) — they exist to fight and preach and teach and help promote the faith of the elect.
Since we had Halloween this past week, I was reminded that the tradition was originally around All Saints and All Souls days, a time to remember the dead. It was to be an honest and somber occasion that brought to the forefront of one’s mind the reality and gravity of death. Now we still make it about death, but it a kitschy and comical way — a way that doesn’t really make us think what matters now with the time that we have.
It’s no knock on Halloween, but Ecclesiastes is right that it is good to occasionally go the house of mourning and take heart. Who you are, and who you will be eternally, is tethered to what you believe.
And Paul is eager to preach because God is gracious to save — it’s why he makes a comment about the elect. God freely gives the grace that breaks the hard heart and blossoms faith. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV).
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV).
Most of the time we shy away from speaking about Christ because we believe that it is a waste of time, that people won’t believe and that I will must be seen as awkward. But it’s the exact opposite for Paul. God is gracious and does break the spell of pride and sin. Paul is eager to preach not because there is a slim chance that some might believe but rather because there is an absolute chance that God is at work through his preaching. May we believe that as well.
So their ministry exists for the sake of faith.
And, this faith, Paul says, comes through the truth and moves to godliness.
a knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness (v.1b).
The gospel, he tells Titus, must come through the truth. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17, ESV). It isn’t caught and spread like the flu, it’s a message — the grace of God in the person of Christ must be preached and taught and declared. In the critical fight of faith, with choices everyday on what to believe, the truth is what sets you free from that slavery. Who you are (your identity) is bound up in Christ. Why you exist is bound up in Christ. Who made you and who upholds the world is bound up in Christ. Your worth is bound up in Christ. Your hope today and tomorrow and eternity is bound up in Christ. The haunting sins of your past are taken away in Christ. We are made for God, and we are only redeemed to that purpose — a godly life of faith, in Christ. We must preach the truth of Christ.
And that truth must accord with godliness.
Remember, this is a twofold ministry — a call to faith and to life, a godly life.
What Paul means is that there is a way to always be learning and never arrive at the truth (2 Timothy 3:6–7). If all of our preaching or all of our reading or all of our many years of church attendance still don’t produce the good fruit of a godly life, then what we are believing isn’t really true.
Paul was an example of a man who knew the scriptures as a Pharisee but was full of dead bones, a false faith of self and pride, that even used the bible to lead a life of hatred and empty superstition and murder.
It is possible to have a sound head and a rotten heart — William Gurnall
You can grow up and know all of the Bible stories but be full of bitterness and resentment — that proves that you don’t know the truth. It’s not that the message of the gospel was wrong it’s that it wasn’t believed. It’s a inextricable chain of faith and practice. You can know that we are to repent and yet never do it. You can know that it is better to turn the other cheek, yet you believe that you need to keep that record of wrongs. You can know that we are to consider others more significant than ourselves, yet we believe that self-preservation is better than self-sacrifice. Belief, which we already said is an inescapable fact, edges its way out into our world by our actions, verifying or falsifying our trust in Christ.
Faith doesn’t mean that we are perfect. Our faith is in the perfect One. But our faith does produce fruit, and we are known by that fruit. The truth produces good fruit.
Faith in the truth of Christ produces godliness, not selfishness and not worldliness. Our faith isn’t an insurance policy that we purchase at one time in our lives hoping that it will be beneficial to us one day but ultimately paying little attention to it. No, we are not saved by works but we are saved for good works. We are saved and enabled to do and be what God has intended us to be all along.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11–14, ESV)
Being ministered to by Paul in this text, we're called to examine our lives through the lens of faith. Are there areas where our actions contradict our professed beliefs? Do we claim to believe in a gospel of grace yet treat others harshly? Do we proclaim forgiveness while harboring resentment? Do we speak of God's power but live defeated by sin?
The good news is that the truth sets us free. Not free to be independent, but free to become who we were always meant to be. We're liberated to call Jesus Lord, to cling to Him as branches to a vine, drawing life and vitality from our connection to Him.
And being inheritors of a ministry with Paul, we're called to live "for the sake of the faith of others." We're invited to be those messengers, calling out to the shadowy figures still trapped in the grey lands of unbelief. We speak the truth, trusting that God will grant the grace of salvation. And we live the truth, our transformed lives serving as evidence of the gospel's power.
May we, like those messengers in Lewis's tale, stand at the border between shadow and light, calling others to faith and godliness. And may our own lives shine brightly, testifying to the transformative power of the gospel, inviting others to join us in the journey from the shadowlands into the glorious reality of life with Christ.
†HYMN OF RESPONSE — New Insert
“With Simple Faith”
†THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Minister: Lift up your hearts!
Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.
Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!
Tell them to turn to The Apostles’ Creed (851) in Trinity Hymnal.
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE
// ad hoc invitation – use below if needed //
At some point during the service of worship every Sunday, each of us is hopefully reminded about the redemption we have in Christ and how we are washed clean by his blood. Perhaps it’s in the sermon, or maybe a hymn, or the prayers, and certainly the confession. We know that Jesus has died and that his death and resurrection have made us clean and able to live for him in righteousness.
Yet as we examine our own lives, or even just hear the law read aloud, we are very aware of the continuing presence of sin. Just as it can be easy to take God’s forgiveness for granted, we can also easily get discouraged with the progress we’re making in holiness.
It is a blessing of the Christian life that God is so patient with us and uses many means to call us to repentance and to remind us of his call to holiness.
Likewise, God uses different means to remind us of the forgiveness he offers to the repentant and the righteousness he provides for us in Christ. No matter how sanctified we become or how serious about obedience we are, no one can come to this table as a worthy recipient of God’s gifts. We strive to be like our savior and to live after his holy way, but those who come to this table recognize that in themselves they are entirely unworthy to receive it. Yet we come. We come because as we repent from that unworthiness, we trust by God’s grace that we are welcomed here on account of Christ’s righteousness and not by our own merit.
This meal provides a witness to the power of God’s love for sinners in the death and resurrection of his son. It provides the promise of grace to all who believe. It provides a means whereby his children, in public reception of these elements, and in response to the great gifts of God conveyed by them, can show forth their faith in God by offering themselves to Him in love and praise.
// ad hoc invitation – use above if needed. Always use below. //
This table welcomes all who confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have the hope of salvation brought forth by his life, death, and resurrection. It is for all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church.
This meal cannot make you righteous; no human action can. But this meal can covey the grace of God to you and unite you, by faith, in the one who is righteous. By the power of the Spirit, who meets with God’s people here; we, though still sinners, can endeavor by that same Spirit to live holy lives before God. Come, you who desire to be followers of God – taste and see that the Lord is good.
Let’s confess our faith together. Christians, what do you believe?
CONFESSION OF FAITH
The Apostles Creed p. 851
Congregation is seated.
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23–26
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
The body of the Lord, broken for you, take and eat.
The blood of the Lord, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.
PRAYER
†OUR RESPONSE #212
“Come, Thou Almighty King”
To the great one in three eternal praises be,
hence evermore. His sovereign majesty
may we in glory see, and to eternity love and adore.
†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE
The blessing of God, the giver of every good and perfect gift; and of christ, who summons us to service, and of the Holy Spirit, who inspires generosity and love, goes and abides with you all. Now and forevermore, Amen.
