Stay motivated through thick & thin

I wonder, what motivates you to live the Christian life? What keeps you doing good works for God, even when it’s hard to? We saw last week from Titus 2 some motivations for Christian living – the amazing news that Christ has appeared in grace, and one day he will appear again in glory. And this evening, we’ll see Paul build his argument by reminding Titus and the Cretan Christians of who they were, and all God has done for them.

So far in Titus Paul has given directions about church life in Titus 1, and home life in Titus 2. And, whilst these instructions intersect with all of life, Paul’s particular concern in Titus 3 is Christian living out in the world – where the majority of people do not follow Jesus. So, tonight we’ll see more both about how we should live and about what should motivate our living for Jesus. But before we get going, let’s pray…

1. How we’re to live in the world (Titus 3.1-2)

Titus 3.1:

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work

Now that’s not an absolute command because elsewhere the Bible tells us that our government and rulers are put in place by God. So, if an authority figure tells us to do something which is against what God says, we’re to follow God – he’s our number one authority. But, generally, that’s the exception rather than the norm. Though in Britain in 2024 we need to pray this remains the case. So, for the majority of the time, Christians need to be law-abiding and obedient. That applies to the laws of the land, and the spirit behind those laws. It applies to how we do our tax return, to what speed we drive, to whether we’ve honestly obtained the music we listen to or the films we watch (or insert whatever it might be for you). Just think about that for a few seconds...

So, Christians must submit to the government. Because what does it say to the world if we call ourselves a Christian and yet we knowingly do something which is against the law? It says we aren’t really interested in doing what’s right when it doesn’t suit us. But I think this also applies to rules and practices at work, or the instructions of our manager, because Paul’s primary emphasis here is Christians living the Christian life out in the world. So, a former JPC member who moved city a few years ago works in the NHS and of course, in healthcare we need people to follow rules, otherwise ill people are going to get worse. But he was a good example of following the rules to the letter, and always following best practice and the best standards, and not cutting corners. (And that still applies even when those rules/practices/instructions could be better, or when we could be treated better.) The point is, he eventually came to realise that people saw the different way he was working, and they saw something in that. And that left him surprised and bemused, but it gave him gospel opportunities. All because people noticed something different. Just like people noticed another former member of our church who didn’t plunder the office stationery cupboard for themselves like everyone else. Which is a reminder that if people notice when we don’t pinch the envelopes, they’ll notice plenty of “bigger” things about us too – whether they mention them, or not. And the little things we do add up. So as the Scottish preacher Horatius Bonar once said, godliness is measured by:

small things by which a great life is made up.

Now, I know all of this can sound a bit wet and a bit square, which is why we need to remember that it’s the devil’s tactics that godliness seem weak, or pedantic, or uncool. And we’re to resist that temptation and instead, positively, be ready for every good work (whatever that might look like) at work, with our friends, in our neighbourhood – out in the world. What might that look like for you? On to Titus 3.2, we’re:

to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy towards all people [i.e. everyone we encounter].

A Christian friend got a job in Argos, and there was lots of time chatting with colleagues at the back of the shop whilst unpacking stock and delivering orders. And it was a hotbed for gossip, and frankly, nastiness. But there was my friend trying to live differently and, I know this type of thing doesn’t happen to any of us very often, but a colleague actually asked him why he spoke to, and treated other people so differently. And he was able to tell them why and tell them what being a Christian meant. And Paul says this is one of the reasons for good works. Not only are they Jesus honouring; they’re to be “Jesus showing”, because people will only know that Jesus is the reason why Christians live differently if we tell them. But if we’re honest, at times, it’s pretty hard to be gentle and show perfect courtesy towards people (at work, in school, with friends) especially when everyone else seems to be doing the exact opposite. And it’s harder again when people are genuinely being unpleasant or difficult.

It’s just so easy to speak evil of people – and say the worst things we can about them. It’s so easy to quarrel with people – “they had it coming” we tell ourselves. And going back to Titus 3.1 – it’s so easy to follow the rules we want to follow, and to get away with as much as we can. And it’s so easy to give our rulers (especially those we disagree with) no respect at all. So could any of us honestly say obeying these verses is easy all the time? Doesn’t trying to obey them seem like hard work, Just like it did for Titus and the Cretan Christians? So Paul says the key to keeping doing Titus 3.1-2 is to see who we were and to see what we needed: the love, kindness and mercy of God. And when we really get that we’ll have the motivation we need to live rightly as Christians in the world. So, secondly:

2. Who we were and what we needed (Titus 3.3-6)

So here’s how Paul describes what Christians were like, before trusting in Jesus (Titus 3.3):

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

So, our sin affected our behaviour but also our thinking e.g. in the Bible a fool is someone who says in their heart there is no God – and then lives like God doesn’t exist. It affected our relationship with God. And our relationships with other people – malice and envy...We hated and we were full of hating. We chose sin – we were actively disobedient. But we were slaves to sin. It ruled over us. It owned us. And can a slave free themselves? No! A freedom-giving-rescue is needed. Let’s not kid ourselves, Titus 3.3 is bleak beyond belief. Can you see how it’s full of opposites and contrasts to the good life described in Titus 3.1-2? This is the bad life. Turn on the news this week and you’ll need no convincing of the desperate state of the human condition. But we don’t like to think of Titus 3.3 every being true of our family, our friends, our sphere, or of ourselves. Which reminds me of the musings of a Christian of old, who wrote:

The human race is inquisitive about other people’s lives, but negligent to correct their own. Why do they demand to hear from me what I am when they refuse to hear from you (God) what they are?[Confessions, Saint Augustine pg 180].

Isn’t that exposing? But without Jesus, Titus 3.3 was true for us. It’s a description of the tendencies that characterised our life. It’s not an exaggeration. That was who we were. And if you do not yet trust in Jesus (and I say this gently), this is God’s diagnosis on the state of your heart right now; selfish, rebellious, enslaved, and far from God. No Christian here is in any way superior to anyone who isn’t. The only difference is those of us who are Christians accept that Titus 3.3 was true of them, they’ve trusted Jesus for their sin, and through the kindness and mercy of God they’ve been transformed by God’s Spirit. And that’s what Titus 3.4-6 are all about. So let me read those verses:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour...

I wonder if you ever write a list of pros and cons to help you make a decision? Well, imagine God deciding whether to save us with a list of pros and cons...What would be on the cons sides – as reasons to condemn us? Well, Titus 3.3: Foolish, disobedient, led astray, enslaved, malicious, envious, hated, hating...And then on the pros side – reasons to save us? Nothing. There are no reasons why God should save us. But, then imagine God writes across the page: “My love. My kindness. My mercy”. That’s why God saved us.

So I said last week how one moment in my life sticks out as a time where I’d let someone down and failed to treat them as I should have and I felt awful about it. And in response, I fell into the trap of thinking the good things I could do could somehow “make it up” to God and get me back on track. But the basis for our relationship with God (from becoming a Christian right throughout the Christian life) is 0% anything we have done and 100% what Jesus did for us on the cross...His mercy in taking the punishment our sin deserved. And whether we’ve been a Christian for 40 days or 40 years, or whether we’re just looking into all of this, we need to remember that it’s 100% Jesus and 0% anything we’ve done. The “way in” to the Christian life is the mercy of God. The “way on” in the Christian life is the mercy of God. And that’s made even clearer by what Paul reminds Titus about the work of the Holy Spirit. So Titus 3.5-6 again:

[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour...

That word regeneration is probably more helpfully translated as “rebirth”. And that second word, renewal, means pretty much the same thing. It’s not that we needed to be repaired or improved. We were disobedient and enslaved. We were trapped. Elsewhere the Bible it says we were dead in our sin. But when we trust in Jesus we are reborn by God’s Spirit – and like a cascading waterfall he is poured out into our hearts. The Holy Spirit enters into our lives and we are remade into new people, with new hearts, and new desires...Freed from the life of Titus 3.3, and empowered by God to live for him. It’s the Spirit work that causes us to want God in our lives. It’s the Spirit that takes the work of Jesus and pushes it into our hearts – so we’re persuaded that Jesus is our Lord and that we want to live for him. And it’s only though God’s mercy, through the work of Jesus on the cross, and by the power of the Spirit, that we can be born again into the Christian life.

Have you ever heard a Christian describing how they came to faith, and looking back to their old life, and using the phrase “I’m a completely different person now”? And that’s because Christians know they’ve been reborn by the power of the Spirit – and that they needed to be. So, as the great hymn says:

’Tis mercy all, immense and free;For, O my God, it found out me.[And Can it Be, Charles Wesley)

What amazing news this is! Living out Titus 3.1-2 is hard. Living this way involves being out in the world. But doesn’t our world increasingly act with suspicion and dislike towards authority? And doesn’t it hold so little value on gentleness and courtesy? Look how people treat each other. Look at the venom we read online. Isn’t our world a harsh place? But living out Titus 3.1-2 is hard because of our sin. Though forgiven, all too often it rears its ugly head in our Christians lives. We’re to submit, but we want to make our rules, and rule over others. We’re to be gentle, but isn’t it so easy to be harsh to others? We do it without thinking.

Friends, when we see all that Jesus has done to forgive us, and to how the Holy Spirit has remade us we are looking into the depths of the goodness, love, kindness and mercy that God has for us. When we look to that, we will want to keep doing all that we can to live for him who has set us free! When we see how kind God has been to us, we’ll be ready to treat others with the kindness and respect that they deserve. But, perhaps above all, we’ll see that the old life of Titus 3.3 is not the people we are reborn to be, and not the people God’s Spirit is changing us to be. Freed slaves shouldn’t go back and want to be chained up again. And, Paul has more to say about the purpose, or reason, God has done all of this – and how that should motivate us. So, thirdly, and lastly:

3. What we were saved for (Titus 3.7-8)

Titus 3.7-8:

...so that [i.e. this is a reason why God has done all of Titus 3.4-6] being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Heirs are children with the right of an inheritance and the inheritance is eternal life. Our hope is the certainty of a new life – forever – in a new world to come. And, as we said last week, that will be a world without sin and without everything that sin spoils. So the point Paul is making is that Titus 3.3 and all the consequences of Titus 3.3 won’t be there anymore. We will be perfect people. But we’re not just saved from something, but for something. Because the best thing of all will be living forever with Jesus as our perfect King – serving and worshipping him forever. We’re saved for life with him. That’s the ultimate good life to come! So we know where we’re going: ultimately we’ve got a one-way ticket to heaven. We know what that life going to be like: perfect, because our King is perfect. And we know who we are now: forgiven people, transformed by the Spirit to trust in Jesus and live for him. So as the 19th century missionary to China CT Studd said:

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Living for God, doing the things of Titus 3.1-2, will endure beyond this life, and nothing else will. And that’s why in Titus 3.8 Paul again tells Titus to encourage his church to devote itself to good works. We must too; individually and together. And we pray that as we do it will help make Jesus “show up” in a world that desperately needs him – just like we do, knowing that the power and the motivation behind it all comes from the goodness, love, kindness and mercy of God – made known and experienced in us all through the transforming power of his Holy Spirit. Let’s pray.