Between Grace And Glory
Titus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
“Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:4–5, ESV)
Announcements
Sunday School resumes next week
Inquirer’s class begins on Sunday, Jan 12th
†CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 27:4, 8 Pastor Austin Prince
Minister: The Lord calls out to you: “Seek my face.”
Congregation: One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and meditate in his temple.
Minister: The Lord calls out to you, his gathered church.
Congregation: Thy face, O Lord, we shall seek.
†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION
O Lord our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You alone are worthy of our worship for you are the one true and living God. Your purpose will be established and you accomplished all your good pleasure. Your mercies are great. You are compassionate and gracious; you so loved the world that you sent your only begotten son that whoever believes should not perish. Remember your promise to meet with your people when they have gathered in your name. Draw near to us as we draw near to you. We praise your unfailing love Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #299
“Joy to the World! The Lord is Come!”
†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Craig Hoffer, Elder
TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION
Minister: Father in heaven, forgive us for thinking so highly of ourselves.
Congregation: We often think that we are righteous by our own actions, forgetting that true righteousness comes only through the blood of Christ. We look at the failings of others and do not like to admit we are weak. We forget that true strength comes from the joy of the Lord.
Minister: Forgive us, Lord for our pride and self-righteousness.
Congregation: We do not love others as we love ourselves, and in so doing, we fail to love you, the Creator of all. Forgive us, heavenly father, and in your mercy change our hearts and put our sins out of your sight. We ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.
CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Psalm 110
A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
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.
†HYMN OF PREPARATION #320
“Once in Royal David’s City”
SERMON Titus 2:11-15 // Between Grace And Glory
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
We pray, that we, as those who Paul charged, may be filled with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that we may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please you in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all the power, according to His glorious might, for the affirming of all steadfastness and patience. Amen.
Text: Titus 2:11-15
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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. 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
AFTER SCRIPTURE
The Lord bless to us the reading of His holy word, and to His name be glory and praise.
INTRO
Where we live at this moment is in between grace and glory. That is where God has placed us. Verse 11 tells us that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, and verse 13 says that we are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We await not just a hope, but a blessed hope — a hope that has been assured by Christ, who came. But where we now find ourselves, in God’s design, is in verse 12, where we are to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
Over the past few weeks we have been instructed on how it is that we are to live what Titus calls a useful life — a life that displays good fruit. That the gospel is not just an idea, but the power of God to save. And, therefore, it is demonstrated in saved lives — good lives. Lives, young and old, slave and free, that leverage their position for the service of God.
Titus 2:1-10 details the content and context of a good and useful life. But if you were just to stop there, you would have a problem. If you were just given a list of things to do (submit, be kind, have self-control, stop that, etc.), you would be in danger of thinking that the gospel (the good news of Christ) is just a call to do more and do better and try harder. You would have a list that you fail to live up to and you would be left with the burden of condemnation. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. So, how are we to embrace and understand these calls from scripture to rise up to and live up to good works? Well, verses 1-10 may describe the content of what redeemed lives do, but it is vv. 11-15 that reveal the motivation — the source and engine of this good life.
Grace has appeared (v 11)
Grace has appeared (v 11)
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” (Titus 2:11, ESV)
The grace of God has appeared!
As we just have and still are celebrating Christmas, we are confronted with the fact that grace appeared into the world. That the Light has come into the world.
He brought salvation for all people. This isn’t saying that God brought universal salvation, in the context of this chapter in Titus, we must remember that Paul has just been talking about divisions among people, young and old, slave and free, and Christ has brought salvation to them all. No one has been excluded.
We recalled this on Christmas eve, how Christ came not just down from Heaven to earth, but all the way down — the lowest of the low. Born to poor parents who could only offer Turtle doves as a sacrifice (Lk. 2:24), laid in a manger for a bed, rejected by his family, rejected by his neighbors, rejected by the leaders of the temple, betrayed, mocked, falsely accused, forsaken, and killed.
Why? Because God so loved the world.
Because of grace! What is grace, again? It’s the kindness and generosity of God. It’s the giving of love to those who haven’t earned it and do not deserve it. It isn’t passive love, but active, Christ demonstrating in flesh the affection of God.
He taught us the grace that isn’t too weak for the sick and the unclean.
He taught us grace that draws near to sinners.
He taught us grace that condemns the hypocrisy and pride of dead religion that ties up heavy burdens upon people.
He taught us grace that the kingdom of heaven is often not as we expect, that the Father runs tot he prodigal and that the kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field.
He taught us grace that gives even His very life.
It’s all about God’s grace!
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:23–25, ESV)
What does grace motivate in us? How does grace motivate?
What grace teaches us about the present (v 12)
What grace teaches us about the present (v 12)
“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,” (Titus 2:11–12, ESV)
Grace trains us! When we look at the outpouring of God’s grace, we aren’t moved into passivity, nor are we moved into presumption (that we can merely do whatever we want because God loves us and will forgive us). No, grace trains us to renounce sin and the shackles that we once loved. Grace as broken the chains of sin and death, and has also broken the spell that it has over our minds. We are repulsed by sin, not compelled to it. We become, as v.14 says, “a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works”.
Grace trains us. It does not simply “prepare us for the future age (by saving us from God’s judgment). Grace also shapes our lives in the present. The gospel is good news for the last day. But it is also good news for the next day.”—(Tim Chester, Titus for You, 78–79)
The Letters to Timothy and Titus V. Motivation for Ministry (2:11–15)
God has shown forth his grace in such a way that it discourages certain behavior, enables uprightness, and implants a transcendent hope.
I you remember from a few weeks ago, we talked about the difference between “I should not” and “I need not”. This is a good articulation of that point. Grace doesn’t teach us to live in fear, believing that if God will love me and accept me than “I should not” do this or “I should do that”. Instead, grace teaches us a life of faith that primarily says “I need not do this” or “I need not do that”, either for God to love me, to justify me, or to be satisfied.
It’s not only that I should not sin, but that I need not sin. I am no longer a slave. I am no longer under a curse. I am not limited to a broken cistern — a well that is full of mud. I have the grace of God in Christ. I have living water. I am free. And in that freedom, I can say no to sin.
My flesh use to say “you have to obey me”. “You have to do my bidding”. “You will not be whole or happy unless you indulge me”.
But in Christ, grace says “you need not”. You need not fear that you are missing out. You need not fear that God will only love or accept you based on your efforts.
Legalism says: What we do leads to who we are. Legalism says, for example, that if we live a righteous life, then we can become righteous people. But the gospel rejects this. The gospel declares that being righteous is God’s gift to us. This is the grace of God. Who we are is graciously given to us by God the Father through the redemptive work of God the Son and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.
But grace does not say: What we do does not matter. That is the cry of what is known as antinomianism. No, the true corrective to legalism’s claim that what we do leads to who we are is to turn this on its head. Grace says: Who we are leads to what we do. — (Tim Chester, Titus for You, 82–83.)
And who are we? We are new creations. Washed by the blood of Christ and adopted into the family of God.
You have been given grace, and grace trains! Trains us in how we are to live and think
We love and obey not to be loved, but we love because we were loved first (1 Jn. 4:19).
Living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age is no chore, it’s a choice. A willing and joyful choice, fueled by the grace of God in Christ.
But if this motivation to live faithfully is pushed from the past by grace, it is also pulled from the future by glory.
Glory will appear (v 13)
Glory will appear (v 13)
“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:13, ESV)
Our lives are lives of waiting. And here we are told what we are to do in the waiting, namely live useful and provocative lives of holiness.
But notice something here. We were already told that grace had appeared—God had entered into the world in Christ. And we are told here that glory will appear.
You might think that Paul would say something like, one day God’s glory will come. Or, one day, Christ will come.
But repeatedly in Paul’s writings he describes Christ’s second coming as an appearing (Colossians 3:4; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:8).
Why might that be? Why might that change our perspective?
It is because we are not awaiting a day for God to be in control and on His throne. That day is today. He reigns now. He is not in His lame-duck period where he has a title but no authority yet. No, He is the lord of heaven and earth now. It is hidden to us, but one day it will be revealed.
We live in what is sometimes called the already and the not yet. We are already redeemed in Christ, but not yet in the new heavens and new earth.
Colossians says it this way,
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3–4, ESV)
One day there will be a reckoning. All will be made well. All tears will be wiped away. All will be held account and judged righteously. And all will be called upon to respond to the grace of God. Was it rejected or accepted?
We are pushed by grace and pulled by glory. Our hope is not a barren hope, it is a blessed hope.
And how might that compel us?
How grace and glory teach us about the present (v 14)
How grace and glory teach us about the present (v 14)
“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 2:14, ESV)
How might grace and glory compel us to faithfulness in the present?
We talked about how grace can teach us to say “I need not”, but the glory of God teaches us to say “I want not”.
The things of earth grow strangely dim. The compelling draw of sin has lost its lustre.
For those trapped in sin, the glory of God is hidden. The light hurts their eyes so they suppress the truth. But the Christian lives pushed by grace and pulled by glory. We live with an appetite changed from the treacle of the world and now crave the treasures of God.
“In His presence is the fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Ps. 16:11.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18, ESV)
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2, ESV)
“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—” (1 Corinthians 2:9, ESV)
We are like Moses, who chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). Because “he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (v 26).
And one day we will see it in full, but it is a reality even now.
You are free in Christ now. You are justified now. You are loved now. You are unbound from sin now. God is in control of all things now. He is working all things for your good now.
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” (Galatians 4:9, ESV)
Our waiting is confident. Just as he appeared in grace, so He will appear in glory.
The Letters to Timothy and Titus V. Motivation for Ministry (2:11–15)
a waiting that is proactive, alert, and expectant
for it would be truly base in us to be again polluted by the same filth from which the Son of God hath washed us by his blood.
Declare These Things v.15
Declare These Things v.15
“Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” (Titus 2:15, ESV)
Motivate and push with these things. We are not manipulators. We don’t need the authority of man, or of age, or of pedigree. We need the authority of the word of God, and it pushes us with grace and pulls us by glory.
†HYMN OF RESPONSE #317
“What Child Is This?”
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!
Declaration of God’s Promises and Words of Institution
Let us hear the story of how this sacrament began. On the night on which Jesus was betrayed, he sat at supper with his disciples. While they were eating, he took a piece of bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
A little while later, he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink of it, do this in remembrance of me.”
So now, following Jesus’ example and command, we take this bread and this cup, the ordinary things of the world, which Christ will use for extraordinary purposes.
CONFESSION OF FAITH
Minister: Therefore, we proclaim our faith as signed and sealed in this sacrament.
This is what we believe about the work of God:
Congregation: We believe that God - who is merciful, yet perfectly just - sent his Son to assume the nature of man, in order to bear the punishment for the sins of his own, by his most bitter passion and death.
Minister: This is what we believe about the work of Jesus Christ:
Congregation: We believe that Jesus Christ presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction, by offering himself on the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted.
Prayer for the Work of the Spirit
Minister: Lord, our God, send your Holy Spirit so that this bread and cup may be for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we and all your saints be united with Christ and remain faithful in hope and love. Gather your whole church, O Lord, into the glory of your kingdom. We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Congregation is seated.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
INVITATION AND RESPONSE
Minister: Hear the words of our savior: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Come then, for all is ready.
Congregation: We come not because we ought, but because we may, not because we are righteous, but because we are penitent, not because we are strong, but because we are weak, not because we are whole, but because we are broken.
SHARING OF THE SUPPER
Take, eat and drink, remember and believe.
†OUR RESPONSE #213
“Glory Be to God the Father”
Glory be to God the Father, glory be to God the Son,
glory be to God the Spirit, God Almighty, Three in One!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!, Glory be to him alone!
†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. 2 Thess. 2:16-17
