Titus 3 verses 3 to 7

Many of you will have seen makeover shows on Telly – shows like Ten Years Younger – where a person is transformed from someone looking old and tired into someone looking much younger.

At the end of the programme they show you a before and after – the amazing transformation the person has gone through, albeit after lots of surgery and dental work.

These verses of Paul to Titus really summarise the make-over that God does to those who turn to him in genuine repentance and humility. It’s not so much a physical make-over but rather a spiritual makeover.

Thus initially in verse 3 Paul summarises the human condition – the ‘before’ condition that all human beings live in prior to finding a relationship with God – and the condition we need to be saved and rescued from.

But then in the remaining 4 verses, Paul summarises the Christian gospel – which is the antidote to this condition, and which transforms us into new people.

So before telling us the good news, Paul reminds us of the predicament we were all in as unbelievers before we came to know Christ. We were in a very bad way. We were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved.

We were foolish, that is in a state of folly, because we had not yet made our peace with God, and we had failed to recognise that we were desperately in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.

We were disobedient because we were in a state of rebellion against God and had failed to recognise His sovereignty over us.

We were deceived because our minds were blinded to truth about God and salvation. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ.

And we were enslaved by our sinful natures which caused us to sometimes to be malicious and envious and hateful, and from which we could not escape.

Many people seem to think that we are born as children of God but as Paul makes clear here, this is not what the bible teaches. For this to happen we need a spiritual makeover.

The truth is that we are born with sinful natures which rebel against God. We go our own way in life without reference to God and seek to please ourselves and to satisfy our worldly desires.

As James teaches in his letter, we therefore become enemies of God, and there is an onus on us to recognise our sinfulness and rebellion and to seek to make peace with God in order to become his children.

This is what repentance is about. It’s about changing direction in life and seeking to please God rather than ourselves.

It’s about recognising our desperate need for God’s mercy and forgiveness and really wanting him in our lives.

I like the story of the Prodigal Son as it illustrates the process of repentance very well.

The son initially rebels against his father and goes his own way in life – seeking to live for his own pleasure. 

However when times get hard he starts to reflect on how foolish he’s been and he has a change of heart. He repents.

He decides he wants to return to his Father even if it means living like a servant or a hired help. As he heads for home his loving Father spots him and goes running up to him and emabraces him and welcomes him home.

The father has been waiting anxiously for his beloved child to come back to him but before a reconciliation could take place the son had to decide he wanted to return home.

It’s the same with us and God.

Even though we are foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved, God wants more than anything for us to be reconciled to Him, so that he can save us and make us into new people.

Hence there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 people who do not need 

to.

As we genuinely repent and turn towards God he saves us from the predicament we were in, and the second part of this passage from Titus about salvation, becomes a reality in our lives as we are transformed into new people.

This salvation first of all is not because of any good deeds we’ve done but because God loves us and wants to be merciful towards us.

Good deeds, going to church, giving money to charity – none of these things can achieve salvation for us. 

None of these things will rescue us from being foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved or make us clean in God’s eyes.

There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve salvation.

Salvation is a gift from God. It’s something he gives to us when we repent and turn towards him in humility, acknowledging our sin and rebellion.

What does the bible teach about God’s gifts?

Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that they’re irrevocable. This means unchangeable.

When God gives you a gift he won’t take it away again. It’s yours. Isn’t that good news.

The whole reason that God came into the world in the person of Jesus was to save us. As Pauls says Christ 

Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

God’s greatest desire is to save human beings, because he loves us and because we are precious to him.

Our salvation is achieved through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

On the cross Jesus did everything necessary to save us completely and forever.

He bore our sins in his own body on the cross – that means every sin we will ever commit past present and future.

And where we sinned and fell short of the glory of God – as in an arrow falling short of a target – Jesus never sinned and offered his perfect life to God on our behalf. Figuratively speaking he hit the bulls eye.

When we become Christians, God therefore no longer sees us in the light of our failures but in the light of the perfect life that Jesus lead.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.

Jesus was punished in our place so that God would no longer have a reason to be angry with us.

On the cross Jesus dealt with everything that separated and alienated us from God.

Every sin was atoned for and every debt paid so that we can be free from condemnation and the fear of judgment.

This is the Good News – that in Christ Jesus God was reconciling the world to himself and not counting men’s sins against them.

Paul says in this passage to Titus that God saves us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

When we repent and accept Jesus into our lives, the old person we used to be, the foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved person dies, and we are re-born as children of God.

 This re-birth has a cleansing effect, and we are made clean in God’s eyes.

There’s an interesting passage in John’s gospel where Jesus washes his disciples feet.

Typically Peter asks Jesus to wash his hands and head as well, not just his feet.

Jesus replies; “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet. His whole body is clean and you are clean.”

When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice we become clean in God’s eyes.

We will still need to wash our feet as we walk in the world, but essentially we are clean.

The blood he spilt for us on the cross makes us clean.

Our sins are washed away and we are justified.

Some people define justified as ‘just as if I’d never sinned.’

We are no longer foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved. We become holy beloved children of God.

This renewal Paul says is by the Holy Spirit, whom God pours out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

The Holy Spirit – the spirit of Jesus comes to live in us and brings us alive to God.

He is the one who opens our spiritual eyes so that we can recognise who Jesus is.

And he is the one who enables us to live as children of God.

Furthermore Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.

When you intend to buy something you leave a deposit as a sign that you will return and complete the transaction.

God does the same with us,

He leaves his spirit with us as a sign to us that he will one day complete our salvation.

If the spirit of Jesus is living in you God will complete your salvation.

Isn’t that good news.

In the final part of this passage Paul says that having been justified by his Grace, we become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Grace is sometimes represented as God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.

Grace is God’s unmerited favour. It is God showering his blessing on those who have done nothing to deserve it.

Having been put right with God through the sacrifice of Jesus, having all our sins atoned for, having been cleansed and re-born as God’s children, we become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

We become heirs of heaven with the hope one day of living eternally with God.

And this hope isn’t like human hope which often disappoints us and is no more than a dream.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that this hope does not disappoint us.

If you are a child of God hoping one day to get to heaven – you won’t be disappointed.

Again isn’t this good news.

So the question we need to ask today is which condition are we in?

Are we still foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures or has the 

kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared to us?

Are we because of our foolishness and disobedience still living in rebellion against God or have we made our 

peace with Him?

Have we had a spirtual make over or are we still in desperate need of one?

The good news of course is that if we haven’t yet made our peace with Him, like the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, God is eagerly waiting for us to return to him.

He is waiting for us to have a change of heart, to repent and to start walking towards Him.

He longs to embrace us and welcome us home.

He longs to clothe us in a robe of righteousness and to save us and make us new.

That’s why he died for us.

Let’s pray.

Perhaps you didn’t realise that to become God’s child and to receive the gift of salvation you needed to turn towards him and to say sorry for having gone your own way in life.

But perhaps you would like to turn towards him now and ask him to save and rescue you, to show you his kindness and to make you new.

In a few moments of quiet thank Jesus for dying on the cross for you and then in your own words express whatever is in your heart to God.

Amen

Titus 2:11-15

Holy Spirit take my words and speak to each of us according to our need. Amen

We’ve been hearing over the last few weeks that the main thrust of Paul’s letter to Titus is that there should be sound doctrine and sound living within the Christian church.

In today’s passage Paul urges us to say no to ungodliness and to live self controlled upright and godly lives as we await our eventual salvation.

When we read passages like this one today we know we ought live holy and godly lives but often we can feel defeated and very ungodly.

So what practical steps can we take to help bridge this gap between what Paul says we should be like but perhaps we struggle to live up to.

Well I think there are a few essential ingredients to living upright and effective Christian lives and this is what I’d like to look at this morning.

The first essential ingredient to living a Godly life is to read and study the bible particularly the New Testament and to know what it says about who we are as Chrisitians.

Did you know that the word Testament means a will. Hence we speak of someone’s last will and testament. When Jesus died on the cross for you he left you an inhertitance in the pages of the bible. As God’s child you are an heir to this inheritance and spiritual riches are waiting for you to appropraite within its pages.

Many of these spiritual riches concern your new identity as a child of God.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We will be transformed as people as we take on board who we are in Christ.

As we read and take in what God says about us and what Jesus’ death has secured for us and made us, it should transform the way we think about and see ourselves.

You see as Christians we have a completely new identity in Christ Jesus.

What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? Well Jesus does have a physical body in the world today. It is made up of the millions of people in whom his spirit lives. As Christians we are part of this body. We are in him so to speak. We are now his hands and feet and mouth and eyes.

This is why Jesus said to Paul when he stopped him on the road to Damascus prior to his conversion – why are you persecuting me. By imprisoning and persecuting Christians Paul was attacking the physical body of Jesus in the world.

When we were put in to Christ Jesus, we became new people with a completely new identity. Thus Paul says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.

We used to be cut off from God and unforgiven but that person is now dead and we have been re-born as completely new people in God’s eyes.

This new person we have become is fundamentally different to the old person we used to be.

The new person is a child of God. He or she has been adopted into God’s family. He or she has crossed over from death to life and from darkness to light.

This new person has the Holy Spirit living in them. As Christians therefore we carry God’s presence around in us wherever we go. The new person has been forgiven and redeemed. The new person is bound for heaven.

None of this was true of the old person we used to be.

The new person is controlled not by their sinful nature but by the Holy Spirit. As Paul says; You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

You may feel your sinful nature is powerful but the truth is that the Holy Spirit within you is more powerful.

As we start to see ourselves as God sees us, as we start to realise that we are no longer just sinful weak human beings but actually glorious, holy, powerful children of God, our behaviour and attitude towards ourselves and others should start to change.

The truth is that as a Christian you are Holy and therefore you can approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that you may receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need.

So read the bible, particularly Paul’s letters and the New Testament and start to see yourself as God sees you and as you do this and believe what it says you will find your behaviour changes accordingly.

Understanding your new identity in Christ is absolutely central to living a godly and effective Christian life.

Some of you may say I read the bible quite a lot but I still don’t feel very Holy or Godly.

And this brings me on to the second point I want to make, which is as a Christian you should not be ruled by your feelings. Your feelings are very unreliable and potentially deceptive. God’s word however is absolutely reliable and truthful.

The writer to the Hebrews says for instance; “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. “

Who are you going to believe – the writer to the Hebrews or your own feelings?

I was feeling quite negative and unholy in the weeks before writing this sermon. I was thinking Lord do you really want me to preach about being holy and godly as I’m not a very good example.

I was feeling spiritually out of sorts and a bit down,

But as I started to think about what I was going to say it occurred to me that most of what I was experiencing was based purely on negative feelings.

The truth about me hadn’t changed. I was still a Child of God and God was still with me. I started to remind myself of the truth about who I was in Christ and to thank God for what he’d done for 

me and then I started to feel better again.

This little episode brings me onto a couple of other ingredients that I think are necessary for a Godly and upright life.

I began to feel better when I reminded myself of the truth of who I was in Christ and thanked God for it.

Thanking or praising God is essential to a healthy upright Christian life. Praise encourages our faith and helps us to believe the truth about ourselves.

You can say in your heart thankyou God for saving me. Thankyou that I am your child and you hear my prayers. Thankyou that I can approach your throne with confidence.

I don’t know about you but I can sometimes be a bit like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Eeyore as most of you will know had a somewhat negative outlook on life. Nothing good ever seemed to happen to him and if it did it wouldn’t last long.

We mustn’t be like Eeyore and if we do feel a bit gloomy the best antitdote is to start thanking God for everything he’s done for us in Christ and for all the blessings he’s given us.

There’s a little saying that I like.

Two men stared through the self same bars. One saw mud the other saw stars.

 When you look at your life do you see the mud or stars?

Thank God for the stars and your faith will start to rise like a tyre being inflated with air.

Part of the reason I felt as I did was I’m sure because the Devil encouraged me to and this brings me onto my next ingredient for a Godly and upright life, which is that as Christians we all face spiritual opposition from the Devil, and we need to be aware of it and to fight it.

The bible calls the Devil the accuser of the brethren. He likes to make us feel weak negative hopeless useless and unholy.

He likes to whisper negative thoughts into our minds - to cast doubts in our minds about our holiness, our salvation, whether God hears our prayers and whether God would ever want to use us for anything.

He likes to disrupt our walk with God and encourage us towards unhealthy worldy pursuits.

This what CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters are about.

If you listen to these negative thoughts they will paralyse you into inactivity and keep you from being an effective Christian disciple.

As Christians we have authority to tell the Devil to get knotted and to clear off and this is what we should do. Paul tells us; “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.”

The next ingredient for a Godly life that I want to mention is living with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus.

Paul says that we are to live by the Spirit and then we will not gratify the desires of our sinful natures.

The Holy Spirit is the one who lives within us to empower us to live as Jesus did. If we are to live upright and godly lives we will need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. We will need to ask for his help every day of our lives. We will need to ask him to fill us, to strengthen us, to empower us, and to guide us.

I recently read a book about a young American boy who had an experience of heaven. His father was a pastor and while the boy was in heaven he saw his father praying before preaching a sermon.

He couldn’t hear what he was praying for but he saw that as he prayed light was coming down from heaven upon him in response to his prayer.

Some time later he told his father what he’d seen. His father remembered the occasion and was really surprised. He’d been feeling a bit grotty and really not in the mood to preach but he’d not realised that God had heard and answered his prayer so clearly.

So as you try and lead a godly and upright life remember to ask God for the help of his Spirit to empower you to strengthen you and to direct you.

If you feel spirtually flat Campbell or myself will always be very pleased to pray for you to be empowered and filled by the Holy Spirit.

Everything that I’ve spoken about so far falls under the heading of what I’d call discipleship. The word disciple has a similar origin to the word discipline. If we are to lead the lives that Paul urges us to in his letter to Titus we need to be disciplined. We need to focus our lives on following God. We need to put aside time to go to our rooms and pray, time to read our bibles, time to go to church, time to attend bible study groups and to meet with other christians.

These are all essential ingredients of a healthy Christian life.

Imagine your life as a small boat with your hand on the rudder. Where are you steering the boat. Are you listening to the one who is with you? Or are you just going wherever the fancy takes you. 

To lead a godly life involves making a determined effort to steer your life in a godly direction.

So the book of Titus urges us to live sound and godly Christian lives as we await our salvation. 

This morning I’ve tried to cover some of the ingredients I believe are necessary to do this. My list isn’t exhaustive and no doubt you may have other ingredients you’d like to add.

But just to recap, firstly we must read the bible, particularly the New Testament and recognise who we are as Christians. We must take hold of our inheritance as children of God and realise that we are holy and redeemed.

Next we mustn’t allow ourselves to be ruled by our feelings. The truth about our identity as Christians doesn’t change whereas our feelings change on a daily basis.

We must thank God and praise him for who we are and what he has done for us in Christ. Don’t be like Eeyore. Look at the stars in your life - not the mud, and thank God for them.

We must be aware that we face spiritual opposition from the Devil and we must resist his lies and tell him to depart.

We must rely on the Holy Spirit and ask him to strengthen us, empower us and guide us.

And finally all these ingredients should be part of a life that is focused on walking with God as a disciple of Jesus, a life that involves regular prayer, bible reading and meeting with other Christians.