WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.780 Well folks, good morning again. It's good to be with you. Before we dive into God's word, 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:11.560 let's bow our heads and pray together. Let's pray. 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:22.920 Father, you have given us an almost unbelievable gospel, a gospel that requires nothing of 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:34.120 us on the front end and yet gives everything to us on the back end. So we need the Spirit 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:40.000 to be at work to help us believe such beautiful things. And we ask that you would do that 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.200 now, that you would come, you would be in our midst, that you would comfort us where 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:48.359 we need to be comforted, challenge us where we need to be challenged, that you would mess 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:53.719 with our stuff in the way that we ourselves need to be messed with, that we might understand 00:00:53.719 --> 00:01:01.280 more of your love and its implications for our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:08.680 Okay, two things that I love to do. I love to exercise and I love to eat. I love to 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:13.560 do both of these things in equal measure and hopefully they offset each other. Sometimes 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:18.039 they don't. I have seasons where they don't. It's what led one of my kids to describe me 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.640 as the most in shape fat guy they know and so that's a danger that happens. But sometimes 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:30.040 I also combine these two great loves like the time that I ate donuts while out on a 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:35.719 run. Okay, anyone else ever done that? I have, by the end of our time together, I'm hoping 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:40.880 to persuade you that it's actually a really good idea. Okay, but first let's dive into 00:01:40.880 --> 00:01:45.840 the text and work our way to that important conclusion. We come into this text and in 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:52.280 this passage Paul is calling us to embrace a certain kind of life, the gospel life, the 00:01:52.280 --> 00:02:00.200 gospel life of joyful obedience. He's trying to get us to connect the dots between the 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:08.640 gospel that we believe and the lives that we now concretely live. He wants us to understand 00:02:08.640 --> 00:02:12.920 that the gospel isn't just something that has saved us for eternity and it has saved 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:17.199 us for eternity and he's going to get into that in this passage too. But it's not like 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.519 the gospel has merely saved us for eternity and now we're sitting around waiting for that 00:02:21.519 --> 00:02:27.799 bus ticket to heaven. No, the gospel is so comprehensive. God's love toward us is so 00:02:27.799 --> 00:02:33.199 complete, so full, so radical that it has not only saved us but also changes us here 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.479 today and that's what Paul wants us to understand. He wants us to understand how the gospel we 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:43.280 believe changes the lives that we live. So look with me at verse one and let's get into 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:49.280 the context of this passage as we enter into the scene here with Paul who's writing Titus 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:54.039 on the island of Crete. He starts in verse one by giving a command. He says, remind 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:59.120 them, let's remind the believers who are there in Crete and we can say by extension, remind 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:06.000 all believers here today to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:14.599 to be ready for every good work. Remind them to be submissive and to be ready for every 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:19.000 good work. Now what Paul is doing here is actually contrasting how Christians should 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:24.319 behave with the behavior of corrupt leaders that he's seen in Crete. If you look down 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:30.599 at verses 10 and following of chapter one, you see a description of these false teachers, 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:35.520 these corrupt leaders. They are rebellious, they're insubordinate and Paul tells us they 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:41.480 are unfit for any good work. So Paul says, don't be like them. These jokers over here, 00:03:41.480 --> 00:03:44.879 they're not following the Lord and they're unfit for any good work, but I don't want 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:50.160 you to be like them. I want you to follow the Lord and be ready for every good work. 00:03:50.160 --> 00:03:56.439 Be ready to live out your faith. He wants us to be, verse two, look at it there, model 00:03:56.439 --> 00:04:03.600 citizens. As we live life in this world, he says, speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:11.919 be gentle, show perfect courtesy to all people. Isn't this just great, kind of earthy, practical 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:18.759 wisdom from the Bible? It's so, so applicable to day-to-day life. He's saying, be models 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:25.439 of kindness and love, especially in the way that you speak to each other. So that starts 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:30.159 with those who are closest to us, with our flatmates perhaps, and not speaking about 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:34.600 one another behind each other's back, but finding ways, looking for ways to encourage 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:39.280 one another, to build one another up, so that when someone has an interaction with you, 00:04:39.280 --> 00:04:44.680 they leave better than they were before they had that interaction. Starts with those closest 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:50.000 to us, of course, including our spouses. There's a sad reality, isn't it, that the closer you 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:55.200 are to someone, often the shorter with them you'll be. I was convicted of this just a 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:59.000 couple of weeks ago when Rosie called me, my wife called me, and I was in the middle 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:03.040 of doing something, and she was talking, and my side of the conversation went like this, 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:10.800 and went, yep, okay, got it, bye, and hung up. And you know, if you noticed, like, in 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.040 the classroom or in your office or wherever you might find it, you can always tell when 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:17.560 someone's speaking to their spouse on the phone, because they speak with a brevity 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:21.800 that they would never speak to anybody else with. So what did they do? Well, I had to 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:26.079 call her back and apologize for not paying her the courtesy and attention that I would 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:32.319 have paid to anybody else. Perhaps this is important with our friends, we think teens, 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:37.279 remember, just never text anything that you wouldn't say in person, right? The Bible's 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.000 calling us to use our language in a way that's different, but the challenging thing about 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.519 what Paul says here is, yeah, we're to be model citizens in our language, but not only with 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:48.560 those who are close to us. See how he extends to those we have problems with, see what he 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:55.639 says there, speak evil of no one, no one. What about those challenging people? What 00:05:55.639 --> 00:06:01.000 about those obnoxious people? What about the weirdo in your office that you have a really 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:06.759 hard time with? Yeah, it extends to them as well. We remember our mother's teaching, 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:14.399 right? If you have nothing to say, say nothing. Hi, Mom. Sometimes, of course, there's a need 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:19.479 for Christians to stand up and have a kind of prophetic voice, we'd call it to call out 00:06:19.479 --> 00:06:24.680 what's wrong with the world, to stand up for our convictions, but even in those circumstances, 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:28.560 we're not to be contentious, we're not to be quarrelsome, we're not to be difficult. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:33.480 There should be something profoundly unusual about the way Christians use their language. 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:38.480 Paul gives the positive alternative to this command in Colossians 4, verse 6, when he 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:46.040 says, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt. Am I challenging? Let 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:53.800 your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt. Don't say things with which Jesus wouldn't 00:06:53.800 --> 00:07:02.680 agree. Imagine Jesus is with you, and then remember, he is, right? Don't say things that 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:07.680 he would have to be like, no, back up, that's not right. Paul is challenging us to be model 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.720 citizens, especially in the way that we use our words, and he's saying there should be 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:17.160 something profoundly different about how Christians talk to how everybody else talks. And what 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:21.800 a cultural impact we would have if we would joyfully obey this kind of call, this kind 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:27.920 of command, in a day that loves outrage, in a day that loves to be offended, in a day 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:34.439 that loves to meet heated rhetoric with equally inflamed rhetoric. How powerful it would be 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:40.759 if we would speak differently. But here's the point. Paul's calling us to be exemplary 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:47.519 citizens, models of kindness and love, but the point today is why? Why should our lives 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:53.799 be different? And Paul's going to go on an answer, and his answer is because of the gospel. 00:07:53.799 --> 00:07:59.279 Our lives should be different because of the gospel. Let's get into that idea for a minute. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:04.279 First of all, look at verse 3. Paul says, we ourselves are once foolish, disobedient, 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:09.079 led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:15.199 envy, hated by others, and hating one another. Paul invites Christians to remember where 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:21.759 they came from. That Christians are no better than anybody else. And if you're not a Christian 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:26.560 and you have interacted with Christians who just seem to sort of have the moral high ground 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:30.240 on everything and look down on other people, I just want you to know that that's not the 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.399 kind of person the Bible called Christians to be. Christians ought to be the humblest 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.720 people on the face of the earth because we know where we came from. We know that God 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.919 didn't send Christ from the glories of heaven to earth to find us at the top of the moral 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:48.759 totem pole. That Christ came to earth for us precisely to find us at the bottom because 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:55.479 we were unable to do anything to save ourselves. We were rebellious. We were like those bad 00:08:55.479 --> 00:08:59.919 leaders on Crete. We slandered and quarreled and impressed. We were caught up, verse 3 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:07.839 says, in the cycle and contributed to the cycle of hatred that decimates lives. But now, we're 00:09:07.839 --> 00:09:12.360 free to live a different way. That's the point of verses 4 through 7. We're free to live 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:16.320 a different way. Now, put one finger at the start of verse 4 and the other finger at the 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:23.480 end of verse 7 and see that the verses that make up verse 4 through 7 in Greek, the language 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:31.440 that the New Testament was written in, this makes up one big long sentence, right? One 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:40.320 long run-on sentence where Paul is going to unpack several related ideas at the same time. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:45.600 So let's see if we can get our minds and our hearts around what Paul says in these verses. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:49.480 He starts in verse 4 by saying, Christians should live differently. Remember the point, 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:53.360 why should we live differently because of the gospel? We should live differently, verse 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:59.480 4, because the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior has appeared. So Paul's 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:03.720 starting to unpack why our lives should be different. And he says, verse 4, because the 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.080 goodness and loving kindness of Jesus has appeared. But the great thing that happens 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:13.160 next is in verses 5 through 7, Paul gets distracted by the gospel. He's just brought 00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:18.800 up Jesus and to Paul, Jesus is like the squirrel, okay? Now that I'm thinking about Jesus, I 00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:23.000 can't just carry on with my thought. I want to celebrate him for a second. I want to talk 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:28.840 about how beautiful he is and how awesome this gospel that we have is. And so that's 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:32.240 what he does in verse 5. He interrupts this thought, we should be good because of the 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:37.680 gospel, to underline the gospel. Look what he does, verse 5. We've been saved not because 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:42.559 of work done by us in righteousness, but according to God's own mercy. He develops this thought 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:47.319 on the rest of 5 in verse 6 by describing how believers have been washed and cleansed 00:10:47.319 --> 00:10:52.839 by the renewing and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, who's not being 00:10:52.839 --> 00:10:56.799 poured out on us in small measure, but in abundance. He's been poured out on us to see 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:03.199 it there, richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so the result comes in verse 7, we're 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:10.640 justified by grace. Paul starts to talk about how the gospel underpins obedience and then 00:11:10.640 --> 00:11:14.520 gets distracted by Jesus because he wants to celebrate the fact that we're justified 00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:23.840 by grace. We're saved by grace. It's been about 20 years since Tom Hanks starred in 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:29.240 the Save in Private Ryan, have you seen that movie? Okay? Follows Tom Hanks during the 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:34.600 invasion of Normandy, World War II, and he and his team of Army Rangers have gone behind 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:43.480 enemy lines in order to rescue Matt Damon, who is Private Ryan. Well, a long movie follows 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:49.480 the exploits of this team. It's a kind of brutal movie, right? The first 20 minutes are 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:55.200 infamous for their brutality, shows humanity at its best and also at its worst. Well, near 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:01.160 the end of the movie, and listen, spoiler, it's been 20 years, okay? Like, you know, 00:12:01.160 --> 00:12:08.400 near the end of the movie, Tom Hanks finds Private Ryan. But in so doing, he's been injured 00:12:08.400 --> 00:12:15.840 and he's about to die, right? And this is where the great movie contains one kind of 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:20.879 galling flaw. Do you remember the scene? Tom Hanks is lying on a bridge, Private Ryan's 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.759 being saved. Tom Hanks looks him in the eye and says, hey, we found you, but now you have 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:32.960 to earn this. You have to earn it. In other words, see all that me and my guys have done 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:38.600 for you. Go and make it worth our while. Go and live a life that deserves this kind of 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:43.720 rescue. Earn it. Earn this. Now, why is this such a galling flaw? It's such a galling flaw 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:49.759 because no Army Ranger would ever say that. The motto of the 75th Regiment of Rangers 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:56.319 is Sua Sponte, which means of their own accord. Army Rangers are proud to volunteer and ask 00:12:56.319 --> 00:13:02.840 for nothing in return. And so it is with Jesus, right? So it is with Jesus. And we're justified 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:11.360 by grace. Jesus doesn't rise from the dead and say, hey, now, earn this. Earn it. See 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:15.279 all that I've done for you. Do you remember that I died? Like, the least you can do is 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.919 get your stuff together. Or I rose again. The least you can do is devote yourselves to 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:26.360 good works. Or think of all I've done, like the least you guys can do is tithe, right? 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:33.319 Although you should also tithe. He doesn't rise again from the dead and say, earn this. 00:13:33.319 --> 00:13:38.279 Earn it. He rises again from the dead to give us salvation freely by his grace. We are justified 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:43.399 by grace. And because we've been justified by grace, see how verse 7 ends, we're heirs 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:50.600 according to the hope of eternal life. Heaven awaits. So that's Paul's sort of gospel distraction. 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:55.120 Verse 4, you know, good works are proumative by the gospel. But now that I'm talking about 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:59.240 the gospel, I've got a little bit distracted. And now in verse 8, he returns to the original 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:04.759 verse of verse 4. The original thought that we should live differently because of the 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:09.120 goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior. So see what he says in verse 8? He says, this 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:13.879 saying is trustworthy. The gospel summary that I just gave you, it's trustworthy. You 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:18.840 can trust it. You can believe it. And here are the key words. I want you to insist on 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:24.399 these things. This gospel, this is something you're to be dogmatic about. This is something 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:29.960 that you're not to have, you know, uncertainty or doubt about. The fact that we are saved 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:34.039 completely and solely by the radical grace of God is something that for which there's 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:40.360 to be no room for debate. I want you to insist on these things. Why? So that those who believe 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:48.919 in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Insist on the gospel so that 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:55.519 believers will start to live differently. So that believers will start to be changed. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:00.360 So see, Paul isn't appealing to guilt. Hey, remind the Christians of all the stuff they've 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:06.600 done in order that they might live good works. He's saying, no, remind them of the gospel. 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:12.039 Insist on the gospel. Insist on the free love of God in Christ because that is what will 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:17.000 compel believers to devote themselves to good works. So we could summarize this passage by 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:22.759 saying we used to live in foolishness, in disobedience, in deceit, even in hatred. And 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:27.600 so being rebellious was to be expected of us, right? Because Christians are no better than 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:32.279 anybody else. We were unfit for every good work. But now we've experienced the grace 00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:36.720 of God in Christ. And we've been forgiven by grace not because of righteous works, but 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:43.519 because of his mercy. And so now we have the Holy Spirit to do what we couldn't do before, 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:50.000 namely devote ourselves to good works. Paul's saying, connect the dots from the things you 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:59.559 believe to the life that you live. I want to take just a moment to just apply this to 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:06.879 how we think about the gospel. Because I think in our churches today, gospel living is just 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:13.000 really misunderstood. What it is that empowers our obedience to the Lord is really misunderstood. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:20.840 And I mean misunderstood by Christians. It's very important. We don't expect anyone's 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:24.120 behavior to be different if they don't know Jesus. Because Christianity isn't about what 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:29.080 you do, it's about what Jesus has done for us. But once we have received Jesus, there's 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:34.440 often a misunderstanding about what motivates the kind of life that we now live. The data 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:39.639 shows that the majority of Christians believe in what we would actually call a form of legalism, 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:46.519 which is obey or God will get you. Obey or God will get you. Some Christians don't believe 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:51.919 in legalism. They believe more what we would call licentiousness, which is obey or don't. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:56.639 It doesn't really matter because God's going to forgive you. And then of course you have 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:03.720 a section to me, the most infuriating section, who believe in the kind of prosperity living. 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:10.039 Obey and God will bless you. You can have your best life now. So many believers fall 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:14.880 into these patterns and I'm sure we fall into these patterns as well. I know I do see these 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:19.079 patterns functioning in our own lives, sometimes falling into legalism. How do you picture 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:24.160 God? Do you view God as the frowning parent who right now is looking on you with a scowl 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:33.039 disappointed with your latest report card? Perhaps you think of him more in the licentious 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:36.559 way. How do you think of God as kind of this like benign grandparent who it doesn't really 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:40.480 matter what you do. They're just going to love you all the same anyway. Perhaps you 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:45.079 do fall into the prosperity way of thinking where you kind of think of God as the genie. 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:51.240 You know, like I've held up my side of the bargain, so now God should bless me in return. 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:56.319 Well, the gospel motivation for obedience is so different. It says God has been kind 00:17:56.319 --> 00:18:00.480 to us not because we've earned it, but because of grace and the grace that saved us now 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:05.920 empowers us to live new lives for God. And it's in complete opposition to those other 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:11.039 ways of thinking. It's completely opposite to legalism. We don't obey in order to earn 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:16.120 God's favor. We obey because we already have God's favor. It's in complete opposition to 00:18:16.120 --> 00:18:22.200 licentiousness. Of course, we want to live for the God who has loved us like he has. 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:25.599 It's in complete opposition to the prosperity gospel too because it says, no, we don't expect 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:31.240 our best life now. Our best life is yet to come. Verse seven, and we're living here until 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:36.599 it arrives. Because of the past fall is saying what Christ has done, His gracious love shown 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:41.599 to us at the cross. And because of the future, what Christ will do, returning to make all 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:50.399 things new, we live now in the middle with His power in His pleasure to live lives for 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:57.200 God, living with freedom and joy to be who we're made to be and do what we were made 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:03.720 to do. It's the gospel and the gospel alone that helps us understand the place and importance 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:08.700 of the lives that we live now. It stops us from falling into thinking that we need to 00:19:08.700 --> 00:19:12.240 lead lives in order to earn God's favor. And it stops us from falling into thinking that 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:16.480 it doesn't really matter what we do because we already have God's favor. The gospel shows 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:22.960 us a more beautiful way, not legalism, not license, not prosperity, but joyful obedience, 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:27.640 connecting the dots from what we believe to how we live now that we've been loved by Christ, 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:35.599 we can start to live like Christ. At work, at home, at play, we get up and intentionally 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:41.299 think, okay, how would the gospel have me live this day? How would the gospel have me 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:46.200 deal with this situation at work? How would the gospel have me interact with my friends 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:51.080 or my spouse or my kids? How would the gospel shape the way that I'm spending my free time 00:19:51.080 --> 00:19:57.440 and my free money? How does the gospel shape the way that we're living our lives? Now, 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:08.080 two applications as we close, okay? Nearly done. Two things that just, yeah, occurred 00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:12.360 to me and were in a sense encouraging to me as I reflected upon this truth and I hope 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:18.359 will be encouraging to you as well. First one is a list that, remember that the gospel 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:22.439 life of joyful obedience, right? Obedience is a hard word because it doesn't sound fun, 00:20:22.439 --> 00:20:27.159 right? But the gospel life of joyful obedience, when our obedience to God is motivated out 00:20:27.159 --> 00:20:35.799 of the joy of the gospel, the gospel life of joyful obedience is good for us. It's great 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:42.519 for us. See, the opposite of obedience, the opposite of joyful obedience is sin. Sin just 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:46.919 being when we do things we ought not to do, when we don't do things that we ought to do, 00:20:46.919 --> 00:20:51.639 surface behavior of course that's motivated by hearts that are wandering far from God. 00:20:51.639 --> 00:21:00.639 Just understand, sin doesn't make you happy. It just doesn't. Now, it always promises that 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:06.280 it will. It always holds out the promise of some kind of joy. Christians, you know, if 00:21:06.280 --> 00:21:10.560 you think, why in the moment do you sin? Then the answer is because you want to, because 00:21:10.560 --> 00:21:15.400 you think that it's going to give you something that will make you happy and yet we find that 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:23.680 sin over promises and under delivers, it disappoints us every single time. We were made for so 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:32.240 much more than that. We know that to be true. A couple of examples. We know that impurity 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:38.920 and sexual addiction and pornography, we know those things don't make us happy. We know 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:43.320 that. We know that they have a temptation in the moment. They have an allure in the 00:21:43.320 --> 00:21:49.160 moment but we also know that nobody ever looked at pornography and then said, I feel really 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:55.400 good about myself now. I really like the kind of person I'm becoming. I really like the 00:21:55.400 --> 00:22:01.480 kind of life that I'm living because we know that we were made for so much more than that. 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:05.960 We were made for real relationships with real people that are beautiful and awkward and 00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:12.160 messy and fun and through it all to experience a kind of intimacy we could never experience 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:18.560 through something like porn. Or perhaps it's not impurity, perhaps it's materialism. So 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:23.240 many of us spend so much of our lives worried about how we're going to get the next thing 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:28.119 and yet we know that the next thing is ultimately never going to make us happy. We know that. 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:33.879 We know that the next promotion, the next job, the next home, the next car, the next 00:22:33.879 --> 00:22:45.279 thing. When the iPhone 37 comes, then we'll be happy. No, it's just not going to happen. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:50.559 Why? Because you have been created with a soul that has such infinite capacity that 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:58.000 it can never be satisfied by stuff even if you owned everything on earth. And yet the 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:05.119 surpassing worth of Christ is such that the one drop of Him is enough. We know that stuff 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:09.559 can't make us happy. We'd be made for more than that. Or even just take the example of 00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:14.200 this text. We know that we weren't made to speak evil of other people, to use our words 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:19.080 to beat others down, get our own way, prove ourselves right. We know that we were made 00:23:19.080 --> 00:23:23.039 for loving God and for loving our neighbors and that there's great joy. It's not great 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:30.840 joy and just the freedom of self-forgetfulness. The humility of not thinking about yourself, 00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:36.880 not worrying if you are right, not always having to have the last word. Joyful obedience, 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:44.600 the gospel life, following God and the details of your life will make you happier than anything 00:23:44.600 --> 00:23:51.080 else on earth. Now I'm not saying some silly, daft, naive, idealistic happiness where it's 00:23:51.080 --> 00:23:57.720 like sunshine and rainbows and candy and roses every moment. Yes, Christian life involves 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:04.600 hardship and struggle and suffering, but even in those places we find Christ and find joy 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:09.319 in Him. When we think about obedience, I don't know what's going on in your life right now. 00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:13.439 I don't know if there's an area that you're struggling to obey God in. Christians, if 00:24:13.439 --> 00:24:17.799 there's a sin you keep returning to or a thing that you're struggling with, can we just remind 00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:23.240 ourselves that if you obeyed you would be happier. If you lived as God has designed 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:29.679 you to live, you would flourish as He has intended for you to flourish. Don't go barking 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:34.759 up the wrong trees. Money, sex and power, they're never going to get it done. Come to 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:40.480 Christ and follow Him. Love Him as you've been loved. Second, close an application and 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:46.560 we're done. This gospel life of joyful obedience where our lives are different because of the 00:24:46.560 --> 00:24:54.799 gospel isn't just good for us, it's also really good for our world, for our witness, for our 00:24:54.799 --> 00:25:00.359 mission in this world. One of the things that's interesting throughout the book of Titus is 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:05.759 how Paul will reiterate a couple of times how the lives that we live, the lives that 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:12.399 we live, not the things we believe, but the lives that Christians live, impact the reputation 00:25:12.399 --> 00:25:19.039 and reception of the gospel amongst those who don't believe. He's saying, don't think 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:24.720 that your witness is solely about the moment of evangelism when you have a chance to 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:30.160 kind of explain the gospel to someone. That's a part of it, but understand that our witness 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:34.960 amongst the world is also greatly impacted by the kind of people that we are and the 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:40.400 kind of lives that we lead. In other words, our lives can make the gospel easier or harder 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:47.160 to believe. And so you know, perhaps you're not a Christian today and you say, you know, 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:51.480 one of the things I find really difficult about Christians is just their hypocrites. 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:57.240 You know, Jesus is harder on hypocrites than anyone I know. You're right to have that 00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:03.279 concern. And for where I or other Christians have made the gospel harder to believe, we 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:10.039 want to repent of that. It also highlights, don't be confused that the behavior of Christians 00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:13.880 is the point of the gospel. When you see Christians behaving badly, it just proves how much we 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:18.360 need a savior. And you're not going to have to hang out with me very long for me to prove 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:22.079 how much I need a savior. And do you know what, if you're honestly yourself, you don't 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.839 have to hang out with you for all that long to realize the Savior's truth of you. All 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:31.079 of us stand on the level ground of brokenness and all of us can receive the level love of 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:35.599 God. But the challenge to Christians in this text is to understand that the lives that 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:40.719 we lead impact the reception of the gospel. We're called to have a disarming presence 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:50.400 to live productive lives that the world will find attractive. So a few years ago, I'm 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:58.640 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I'm out for a run. And I'm plodding along, you know, 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:06.079 my unimpressive mile pace when suddenly it hits me, right? The smell of Krispy Kreme. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:12.879 I called my brother and said, hey, do we have Krispy Kreme in Scotland? And he said, not 00:27:12.879 --> 00:27:16.279 only do we have Krispy Kreme in Scotland, when the Krispy Kreme in Edinburgh opened 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:21.759 up, traffic got backed up all the way to the M8. Okay? So, you know, this is a good stat, 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:27.319 actually. Most obese nation in the world, America. Second most obese nation, Scotland. 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:33.079 Let's go, right? Two nations united by a love of donuts, right? So I'm out on this run and 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:39.519 suddenly the smell of Krispy Kreme hits me. And I run past it and I stop and I look at 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:45.839 the sign. Now, do you know what the sign at Krispy Kreme says? Right? It says, hot now. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:54.079 Right? Not hot earlier. Maybe not hot later. Hot now. Now is the time to eat donuts. And 00:27:54.079 --> 00:28:00.759 you can get a dozen for only $7.99. Right? So the deal was done before I even went in. 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:07.359 Right? Now, you can ask me how many donuts I ate and I will not tell you. Right? You 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:18.279 know, the delicious, liquidy goodness of donuts that you can swallow whole. Yeah? Paul 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:27.720 saying, that's what Christians are to be like in this world. We are to have a scent that 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:36.720 stops people in their tracks. We are to have a scent that people find attractive. We are 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:43.759 to have a scent that will actually cause people to come on in. A surprising scent that gives 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:48.319 people pause for thought, that makes them stop and consider the sign even to come on 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:53.360 in. And Paul says that we'll smell like that. We'll have that aroma of Christ when we start 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:58.359 to live in joyful obedience. When we stop joining our colleagues and kind of ridiculing 00:28:58.359 --> 00:29:03.079 our boss, when we start to live peaceful, gentle, respectful lives instead of having 00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:07.599 to win every argument, when we model humility to our neighbors and love them as we've been 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:12.039 loved. Paul's not naive. Okay? He's not saying all your neighbors are just going to fall 00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:16.439 at your feet and say, oh, you know, what must I do to be saved? But he is saying that that 00:29:16.439 --> 00:29:21.000 kind of life makes a difference. That that kind of life doesn't just make the gospel 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:27.240 easier to believe. That kind of life is alluring to people as they see the difference that 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:31.920 Christ has made in our lives. It will stop them in their tracks. It will give them pause 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:39.160 for thought and some of them will even come on in. And then the gospel and the gospel 00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:44.440 alone helps us understand the importance of how we live on earth. It's not legalism. 00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:48.960 It's not license. It's not prosperity. Christians, we don't obey because if we don't, God will 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:54.799 get us. We don't discard our lives because whatever happens, God will forgive us. No, 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:00.400 we live lives of joyful obedience because God has so loved us. And as we run around 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:07.079 busy from one thing to the next, may Jesus make us pause, that we would savor the delicacy 00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:14.880 of the freedom in life that he gives. And then, loved by Christ, we may start to live 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:26.560 like Christ for our own joy, but also for the sake of our world. Amen. Let's pray together. 00:30:26.560 --> 00:30:38.160 Father, we are here to celebrate the gospel that requires nothing of us in the front end 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:46.000 and give us everything on the back end. A gospel that would require we do nothing in 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.600 order to be saved because, Lord, that's the kind of gospel we need. We can't clean up 00:30:50.600 --> 00:30:56.759 our act. We are a mess. We're in need of grace, unmerited favor. And we thank you for giving 00:30:56.759 --> 00:31:01.040 it to us. And we thank you, Lord, that the gospel is so full, so complete, so robust 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:10.759 that your work doesn't stop with our salvation, but is changing us even now here in time. 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.759 So Lord, help us to connect the dots from the gospel we believe to the life that we 00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:31.799 live. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.