Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Titus 2. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- It is hard to believe, given the history of the past two millennia, that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.” Think about that – what God did in Christ, what He wills for all people, the blessings that are available to resolve all of the problems of the human race!
- It is an almost unbearably painful thing, to compare this with what we have to live with to this day – wars, bloodshed, destruction, terrorism, murder, economic exploitation, thefts, lying, hatred, and slander.
- Religion hasn’t helped us much. In fact, religion is often the offensive cause of much of this, or at the very least, the cloak that wretched human beings use to justify and whitewash their hatred and violence toward others.
- Christians are not exempt from shortcuts – from the temptation to use “religion” and the “church” as a pretext and excuse for hatred, bigotry, and the destructive exploitation of others. It continues to happen to this day where people within the church lose sight of the “appearing” of the Lord Jesus in glory, and focus only upon the advancement of the “institutions” that bear the name “Church.”
- But this is not God’s will, nor is it the outcome when people actually grasp the “grace of God” that has appeared in the coming of Jesus. For not only does the grace of God bring salvation to all people – a real and bona fide salvation, but the grace of God also teaches us to turn away from the hideous evils that plague and torment human life.
- Our text urges us to be aware of this and to participate – not only for our salvation, not only for our renewal, but also for the good of the world – good works which will be publicized on Judgment Day and which will follow true believers forever! So let us consider once again that:
I. Jesus Brings Salvation For All People – He Has Redeemed Us All From Lawlessness
Text: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. . . . . He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people.”
Statement: This is great good news intended for each and every one of us. The phrase “for all people” insures to us that we are not excluded from God’s gracious forgiveness, merciful redemption, and the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Our sin is washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ – all lawlessness. This insures to us that no sin we could ever commit is beyond God’s gracious forgiveness and redemption! We are redeemed and purified, justified in the sight of God – accounted to be completely forgiven and cleansed and perfectly righteous – because of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross for our sins.
Application: We must first be comforted in this – so that our minds can be soothed and relieved of our fears and angst. Then we must consider that others are included – “all people.” As we look around us we must realign our thinking about others according to God’s will for them – understanding and acknowledging what He has done for them and wills for them. We are saved by grace – we have no right to compare ourselves favorably to others; they too are saved by God’s grace. And how important is it that they come to know this? How would the world be changed if everyone could come to know and believe God’s love for us? Then no one would feel compelled to recommend themselves to God by comparing themselves favorably to others – or abusing others out of some sense of superiority or some perverted sense of duty to God!
Transition: For God’s love and the salvation that He has provided for us has power to change hearts and minds! And we must consider this, for:
II. The Grace Of God That Has Appeared To Us In Christ Jesus Also Renews Our Hearts And Minds
A. It Teaches Human Beings To Renounce And Repudiate All Evil
Text: “For the grace of God has appeared . . . training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.”
B. It Also Teaches Us To Live Self-Controlled And Godly Lives
Text: “For the grace of God has appeared . . . training us . . . to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”
C. It Teaches Us To Live In Eager Waiting And Expectation For Jesus’ Return In Glory
Text: “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Statement: Stop to think of what the world would be like if everyone repudiated evil – everything contrary to God’s Law, all ungodliness and selfishness and greed and all of the unloving and hateful lusts that move people to sin! What would life be like if everyone lived self-controlled lives – upright and moral lives, godly lives of love, loving as He has loved us! And what if everyone were living in eager expectation of the coming eternal kingdom of heaven – instead of greedily living as if this is the only life we have? How would the world be different? How would we be different?
Application: The grace of God that appeared surely reveals to us God’s free and gracious gift of salvation in Christ Jesus. But it also brings a holy and godly leaven into the world – which effects a transformation of human hearts, minds, and lives!
I hope you can see what is truly important as we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus – as you compare the grace of God to all other aspects of “Christmas time” in the world! Would to God that every single human being could see and understand – and that is what we are called to do in the church, to proclaim His grace to others, that it might “appear” to them!
Transition: And so:
III. The Appearing Of God’s Grace, His Gift Of Salvation, Has Created The Church
A. We Are Redeemed From All Lawlessness And Purified To Be His Own Possession
Text: “He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession.”
B. As Recipients Of His Grace And Salvation, We Have Been Changed – We Are A People “Who Are Zealous For Good Works.”
Statement: Again, imagine how the world would be changed if all to whom He has provided the gift of salvation would become “a people for His own possession”! And imagine if every human being were now “zealous for good works.” The difference would be astronomically good!
Application: Now, consider if every Christian understood that he/she was Christ’s possession, redeemed, cleansed, purified, and renewed in love – so that every single Christian was absolutely “zealous for good works.” If just the Christians in the world “renounced all ungodliness and worldly passions” and “lived self-controlled and godly lives,” and were looking to the future rather than clinging to the things of this present temporal world – what a radically better world this would be!
You cannot make this happen for the whole world. You cannot make this happen for every member of the church. We cannot even make it happen for every member of this congregation! But you can consider making this your goal and aim in life – bringing your own thinking, desiring, and striving into line with God’s good and gracious will for you! That, in itself, would make a remarkable difference in the world!
Conclusion: This is the gift that God has given us in Christ Jesus – a gift that will keep on giving forever! We give gifts at Christmas time. Why not consider receiving the greatest gift from God – a renewal of our entire life and being. I can assure you, if only we would receive this gift from God it would be the greatest gift we could give to loved ones, neighbors, and the whole world! May God grant it to each of us in ever greater measure! Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.