Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right. Well, good morning.
[00:00:02] I am glad to see you. I want to just kind of let you know that today is a celebration. As you saw in the commons, we still have some stuff up for World Vision. I want to explain that we have a friend, Ms. Bernice, is out there representing them.
[00:00:17] So over the past week, I want to just kind of update some cool things. The children and families of the village of Inyawa got to do something rare for them.
[00:00:27] They got to choose some of you who decided to sponsor.
[00:00:31] And so what's great is before them stood on a wall, the photos of you. And they picked you last week. Here's some cool things to report about our church and all five of our campuses, what we got to do together.
[00:00:44] There was a need of 450 kids in this village to sponsor their goal for our church, just church our size. And the fact that we've already done this in previous years was total 370. Well, by God's grace, we were able to do as a church, 429 kids, which is amazing.
[00:01:06] Which means there's just over 20 kids remain in that village.
[00:01:10] Anything beyond what we do from today spills over into a neighboring community.
[00:01:16] But what's powerful, and Ms. Sarah can vouch for this. I don't know where Sarah is, but she's somewhere.
[00:01:23] If you see Ms. Sarah, our grace Kids coordinator, just ask her. It is a game changer for that community and those people. So after the service, if you participated last week, you can go to the commons across the way. Ms. Bernice is out there to help you out. And we also have some of our people in orange T shirts. If you just find your name on the envelope. And inside of that envelope is not just a face, but a name. A child who's made in God's image, who we get to participate in helping grow them and help them understand why God made them.
[00:01:57] So I would encourage you, as you open it, don't rush. Look at their face, say their name out loud. This is at the end of an event. It's a start of relationship. So as you leave, take the envelope with gratitude, prayer, with expectation for what God will do through this relationship in coming years.
[00:02:15] You can still participate. Like I said, if you want to do that, they'll be out there and they would love the opportunity to be able to connect with you. You can use this card with the QR code and any of the information that they have on that. I just want to take a moment and pray for the work that our team got to do last week. Because we sent many of our staff there.
[00:02:34] And so it's a powerful thing that we as a body of believers got to participate in. So let's pray.
[00:02:39] Father, in Jesus name, we are grateful for your mercy, how it reaches us honestly in ways that sometimes we are able to see and in many ways we're not.
[00:02:52] So, Lord, I pray that you would be with our brothers and sisters in Zambia and those that don't know you yet, that your spirit would soften their hearts and draw, that you would draw them to yourself.
[00:03:05] And Lord, today, as we look at this opportunity to learn from your word, I pray that we see this as really your grace, that you would so love us this much that we get to be in your word in a comfortable room with brothers and sisters around us.
[00:03:23] Lord, we thank you for this. We trust you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:29] Well, as Blake said a few moments ago, we will be studying Ephesians starting next week. And like, thinking about what we've talked about over the past month and a half, on top of the opportunity with World Vision last week, I wanted to kind of put a bridge text that took what we've been talking about and take what we're about to talk about in Ephesians and really prepare for that. And one thing too, we mentioned this a few weeks back that we do have some of these. We had some books, just journal books for Ephesians back there. Well, I think we ran out. And so we've got some like handouts that are three hole punched and you can put it right in your three ring binder that you keep all the time because I know you're on top of it and you could tab it if you want to. But real quick, we did make an adjustment. We forgot to add a very important part of Ephesians chapter 5. And that will be changed and we'll let you know about that in the future.
[00:04:22] But glad that we get to do that. So I'm gonna start with confession. I figure if there's any safe place to confess things, this is it, right?
[00:04:31] For years, I treated the gospel like a finish line.
[00:04:37] Somebody trusts Christ, they get baptized. And in my head back then at least, it was kind of a quiet, like, all right, we're good, right?
[00:04:47] They're in. Like, grace was the ticket to get them through the door. Everything after that was just maintenance.
[00:04:54] Behave, show up, don't embarrass the family name, and it's all good. But that's not how the Bible talks about grace.
[00:05:01] Grace isn't the ticket through the door. Grace is the door, Grace is the room, Grace is the air in the room. And grace is what starts moving you once you're inside the room. So over the past month, many of us have begun serving this church in a variety of ways. These different ministries that we have here, and we still have space if you want to still join in a way to serve, whether it's on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night or other opportunities, we have, and many of you have already started stewarding your money. Last week, we sat in this room and we talked about that and how to do that through the leadership. One thing I kind of made sure to double click on leadership of the Holy Spirit to lead you to sponsor and be part of world vision. That's the key, is it's the spirit of God leading you to do this stuff. So it's not a coincidence.
[00:05:49] It's not even just a good idea.
[00:05:52] This idea of working from a place of mercy and grace is exactly what we're supposed to do. It's theology. It's understanding rightly, God and his Word. So I want to show you from Scripture what happens, why grace, once it saturates a person, once it begins to, like, really get to the core of them, that grace does not stay still.
[00:06:13] So turn with me if you have your Bibles. Titus, chapter three, this little bitty book right after first and second Timothy.
[00:06:20] And what's great is in this section of Scripture, Paul is writing to Titus, a young pastor he had left on the island of Crete to get a fledgling church in order.
[00:06:32] Now, Crete had a reputation. And in chapter one, verse 12, Paul quoted one of their poets earlier in a letter, calling the Cretans always lying, evil beast and lazy glutton. So that's the group of people that Titus was called to serve. And in this area, so not exactly the kindest right, not flattering.
[00:06:56] And it's in that mess that Paul doesn't hand Titus a behavior manual.
[00:07:01] He hands him theology, doctrine.
[00:07:05] Because Paul knows something that sometimes you and I forget.
[00:07:08] We cannot fix behavior by aiming at our behavior.
[00:07:12] You fix behavior by aiming at the Gospel and letting behavior follow where the Gospel leads.
[00:07:19] Because in the Gospel, you and I find our belonging there. And you and I belong because of the behavior of Jesus Christ, not our own. It's nothing that you and I could ever do. In fact, let's look at verse 3 of Titus 3.
[00:07:33] Notice this. For we ourselves, Paul's including himself, I'll show that in a second. 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.
[00:07:53] What's powerful is that the apostle Paul includes himself, we, ourselves. Paul doesn't say they were like this. He includes himself.
[00:08:04] Despite all his religious training, he puts himself on the list without hesitation.
[00:08:11] So I want you to hear the weight of some of these descriptions he gives. Foolish.
[00:08:16] Foolish is not stupid, but it is morally blind, unable to see the reality of their sin clearly. You ever been there where everybody from the outside of you can say, hey, they got this going on in life, but you're so enveloped in your mistakes, you can't even see your wrong clearly?
[00:08:38] And then disobedient, he says, not merely making mistakes, but resisting what is already known to be right.
[00:08:45] They were led astray, they were deceived, they were wandering a sheep with no shepherd and no sense of direction. Morally, they were slaves to various passions and pleasures.
[00:08:57] It's one thing for us to think about this. It stings.
[00:09:02] It doesn't say we occasionally gave in. It says we are slaves, meaning we were owned by those things.
[00:09:09] Every human heart, apart from grace, Paul says, is owned by something. It could be money, approval, comfort, control, appetite. And we call it freedom.
[00:09:19] Meanwhile, we serve it, and it's not freedom. And then he says, malice and envy. This is to be cruel or spiteful. I don't know if you've ever been around a cruel or spiteful person, but I don't have to tell you their name, because as soon as I said it, you knew their name.
[00:09:38] And then it says envy.
[00:09:40] This is this relationship towards others. It's continual dissatisfaction with one's own position, living a life compared to another. Does that sound like freedom?
[00:09:52] It doesn't.
[00:09:53] And they were hated by others and hating one another. And that's what happens when we live in this way, enslaved by our passions and flesh pleasures. We hear this list, many of us, and we're like, oh, yeah, you're right, Lewis. Those people are crazy.
[00:10:08] But Paul isn't describing someone else's rap sheet.
[00:10:12] He's describing the condition we all share.
[00:10:17] You can be fully clothed, fully fed, mortgage paid, and still enslaved to fear.
[00:10:23] Fear that you're not enough, not successful enough, not smart enough, not oppressive enough, not loved enough.
[00:10:30] And that fear runs you, leads you.
[00:10:34] It decides your schedule, your spending, who you're kind to and who you dismiss. It also leads you to be basically a cynic of everybody. And you judge not just their behavior, but you judge their words and motives on why they do what they do. And by the way that too is slavery.
[00:10:56] Here's the hard truth. Under the verse before grace, you and I were not neutral.
[00:11:02] We were not simply not good. Yet we were actively enslaved and we cannot free ourselves.
[00:11:10] That's the whole point of verse 3. You don't self improve your way out of slavery.
[00:11:15] Someone else has to free you. This is the Gospel. So look at this with me in verse four.
[00:11:22] But when the goodness and loving kindness of our God our Savior appeared, he saved us. And here's what's powerful in following.
[00:11:33] 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 Savior. Noticed the Trinity is mentioned in those three verses. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, verse 7. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
[00:12:06] And again that word in verse four. But the whole Gospel lives inside that three letter refrain, not. And then we tried harder or not. And then we figured it out. But something from the outside of us broke into our hearts and saved us.
[00:12:29] And look at this again. He saved us not because of works done by our righteousness, but according to his own mercy. Again, not because of works done by us.
[00:12:40] You and I could never be good enough. It's the work of Christ on our behalf. If you remember nothing else today, remember this.
[00:12:47] You were not saved because God looked down and saw you. He saw your potential and saw your education. He saw all that stuff. And he decided, you know what?
[00:12:58] They're worth my investment. I'm going to save them.
[00:13:01] That's not it at all.
[00:13:03] That's not mercy. That's a talent scout. And that's not God.
[00:13:08] Mercy is what you give someone who has nothing to offer you in return.
[00:13:13] It tells us what we bring to God before His grace is foolishness, disobedience, slavery and hatred. We come to the table with marred hands, but those hands are empty with nothing to bargain with. And God saves us, saves you anyway.
[00:13:30] Not because of what's in our hands, but according to his own mercy. And then Paul stacks up, language almost too rich for us just to kind of digest in this one sitting. So I would encourage you this week, prepare your hearts by reading over verses four through seven. And he says, he does this. He says, the washing of regeneration. That's not a bath, that's a rebirth.
[00:13:51] You weren't cleaned up, you were made new.
[00:13:54] Renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly. Not measured out, carefully, generously. God isn't stingy with his sweet spirit toward his people. He gives it to us generously. We are justified by his grace, declared righteous before Him. Not on probation.
[00:14:14] Not. Let's see how you do. Justified, meaning the verdict has been rendered. The case is closed. You are free in Him.
[00:14:27] That we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And you and I just didn't get rescued from something. You got adopted into something, into a hope that's eternal, everlasting. It's an inheritance. It's a family, a future that is actually yours.
[00:14:45] And notice what.
[00:14:47] What's the active participant here? Notice who's doing what. The Father, God the Father saves. God the Son does the dying and the giving of himself through him. And God, the Holy Spirit does the this washing of us. And here's what I wanted to say. I'm gonna say it again, and I want you to feel it deep in your chest and understand this. Cause this is powerful. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are not on probation. Hear that again.
[00:15:14] You're not one bad week away from losing your standing.
[00:15:19] Do you hear that?
[00:15:25] You're an heir.
[00:15:27] The verdict is already in.
[00:15:30] It's based on the work of Christ. You're justified in him.
[00:15:34] And then notice verse 8.
[00:15:37] The saying is trustworthy, he says. And I want you to insist. He's telling Titus as he shepherds these people, as he leads these people. I want you to insist on these things. And here's the purpose. So that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Okay? Those who've already received this grace, who've already been transformed by the renewal of the spirit of God in you, that those people would begin to live their lives devoted to good works. And notice this little caveat he gives about them. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
[00:16:18] Paul says the people who believe the whole theology of mercy should be careful to devote themselves to good works. This is crucial. So slow down with me.
[00:16:28] I want you to hear it.
[00:16:30] Good works are not the entry fee for grace.
[00:16:35] If it were, it wouldn't be grace. It would be a wage.
[00:16:42] It's key. Good works are the natural evidence of grace already received. Here it again. Good works are the natural evidence of grace already received. Imagine this.
[00:16:56] I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to feed a homeless person, someone who's been hungry and starving.
[00:17:04] You don't have to talk that starving person into eating food once it is set in front of them. You don't have to convince them that's the thing to do.
[00:17:14] You don't coach a hungry man to pick up the bread. The eating isn't obedience to a rule. It's just what a hungry body does.
[00:17:23] In the same way, Paul isn't handing the Cretans a new law.
[00:17:27] He's not saying, now go do good works, or else.
[00:17:33] He's describing a reflex.
[00:17:37] A reflex.
[00:17:38] Once you've tasted the mercy of verses four through seven, really tasted it, not just heard about it, what happens is good works stop being a burden and start being a response that you can't help again, understand that you were saved while you were still an enemy of God. Generosity towards others stops being a moral obligation and becomes really an inevitable outcome. When you understand what God in his grace has so done for you, it's not a moral obligation. It's like, of course that's my reflex. I'm going to do things that reflect what God has done to me. Of course that's natural. It's an inevitable outcome. You don't have to force yourself to care about someone else's needs. You just need to remember your own rescue. And then what happens is your caring for them shows up on its own.
[00:18:32] The prince of preachers, Mr. Charles Spurgeon, he puts it this way.
[00:18:37] Works of righteousness are the fruit of salvation, and the root must come before the fruit, meaning the work of God's grace in your life and saving you comes before the fruit of caring for others.
[00:18:52] But it doesn't. Like, just because you're saved doesn't mean you stop there, which we'll see here in a second.
[00:18:59] So do you see what matters this morning?
[00:19:03] I mean, think about this.
[00:19:04] This is so important. Like, last week we had a room full of people who decided that they were saying yes to a child that's literally over 8,900 miles away.
[00:19:16] So chances are you're not going to meet this child that you decided to sponsor. You're not going to be able to go to the village and hear the testimony how God in his grace, used what you thought was just a little extra extra in your bank account to benefit someone. But I promise you, eternity, eternity will prove it.
[00:19:36] It's because grace received always goes looking for grace to go somewhere, somewhere to be given. The kids in Zambia? Absolutely. The neighbor who's been different since they got laid off, that's an opportunity for God's grace to work through you in their life. That classmate that no one wants to sit with at lunch, that's an opportunity for God's grace to work in and through you, serving and grace kids or any of our ministries that we have at our church.
[00:20:07] It doesn't stay with you, it flows from you.
[00:20:11] Think about this in society. That's where grace can go in your neighborhood, to your teammates, your classmates, your co workers, your church, your families.
[00:20:22] When the grace of God takes hold of our lives, it never stops with us.
[00:20:28] Notice Paul doesn't say, be careful to feel bad about your good works or be careful to earn your good works. He says, be careful to devote yourselves to those works.
[00:20:39] That's the language of delight, not duty.
[00:20:45] A husband devoted to his wife isn't checking a box. He, he's given himself to her. That's the posture Paul is describing toward good works. Not compliance, but devotion.
[00:20:56] And here's what I want to ask you this morning on this list from verses 3 through 7.
[00:21:05] Where are you at this morning?
[00:21:09] Maybe you're still proving that you were once foolish. Maybe you're still in verse three. Maybe you see that you're still disobedient, still being led astray, still slaves of various passions and pleasures, pleasures still passing your days with malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. Maybe that's still you. Maybe you're still owned by something, still calling it freedom while that thing actually runs your life, your schedule, your anxiety, your need for approval. I mean, many of us think, oh, we're not a slave to anything. Meanwhile, hours of scrolling, Various kinds of passions, various kinds of pleasures.
[00:21:52] If that's you hear this, you will never be able to fix yourself by trying harder.
[00:22:02] It's not going to be some little habit that you put in a New Year's resolution and figure it out.
[00:22:07] You don't get free by behaving better. You get free the same way every person in this room got free.
[00:22:14] Through mercy, not works.
[00:22:18] And again, the door is open.
[00:22:21] Maybe your next step is to come to him with empty hands, because honestly, that's the only kind of hands he asks for.
[00:22:31] Or maybe you're already an heir, already justified, already washed, already sealed with the Holy Spirit, and you've just gotten comfortable living at the end of verse seven.
[00:22:46] So it says there. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs.
[00:22:51] Heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And you're like, I'm done. I've been saved.
[00:22:57] But you need to understand that you've settled for being rescued and forgotten to be devoted, the natural reflex of one who's been redeemed. If that's you, I'm not asking you to try harder either I'm asking you to remember, to remember what you were, remember what it cost, and watch what happens when you do.
[00:23:17] Because here's the truth. This whole passage is built on the same grace that saved you, is still working in you. And it never stops with you.
[00:23:28] It begins working through you.
[00:23:30] So maybe your next step is to find a place to serve, find an opportunity to pray for somebody, start listening, start going.
[00:23:41] One of my favorite things that I've seen is just how little stories and you guys think it's no big deal when you tell me something, whether in the parking lot or you see me out and about. Let me just tell you that you are giving me life as a brother when you let me know what God is doing in your life.
[00:23:57] And I hope that I get to do the same for you. Those little testimonies that you say, hey, this person had this going on in their life. We pray for this is what happened. Are you kidding me?
[00:24:06] Like, that's amazing that I get to share in what God's doing in your life. But here's the thing. Don't just share it with me.
[00:24:14] God can do so many things through your life. That little pause of praying for somebody, listening to someone being present with their need, you don't realize the gift of God's grace, that is. And so whatever your next step is, I invite for you to begin it today.
[00:24:31] Today.
[00:24:32] So what I want to do is just pray for us. Pray that God in his grace would just so help us respond in obedience to these things and just live a life that corresponds to the grace that's been shown us.
[00:24:42] And that life is one that is devoted to good works, that reflects his goodness and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So let's pray.
[00:24:51] Father, in Jesus name, we thank you for this, for your mercy, for your kindness.
[00:25:00] Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would just lead us this morning, help us respond in faith to these things, to really act them out. Live them out, Father.
[00:25:13] Not because by doing that we'll receive your favor, but because we already have it in Christ.
[00:25:20] So, Lord, we thank you for these things.
[00:25:22] We trust you. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. Please stand as we sing.
[00:25:27] Hey, I want to remind you about the opportunity, if you would like to participate with this, with World Vision, Ms. Bernice is out there. We have several of our people in orange T shirts that would love the opportunity to help you as well.
[00:25:40] And then if you've already done this, you did it last week, then there's an envelope out there with your name on it. And again, don't just bust it open, be like, oh, cool and pause.
[00:25:51] Think about that child as one made in the image of God, who God in his grace so loves like he does you.
[00:26:01] I want to encourage you as we start the book of Ephesians that you would just make it a commitment to read it again next week. We're going to talk about the first half of chapter one and I'm excited about that because it's something cool for me as a, as a brother who loves to share. And so it's a great opportunity. So if you would like to do that or use your own Bible. But if there's, if you want those notes to put in a three ring binder, you can do that and grab that in the back.
[00:26:29] Main thing is church. You need to know that we love you. It is our joy that we get to serve alongside of you and our benediction. This week's one we've heard before and we're going to start a new one next week. But may you always be found at the intersection of knowing the love of God and making the love of God known. Go in Jesus name and have a great week.
