"When All is Said" pt.2
We’re exploring this idea of when we get to the end and look back, what really matters, what did we really accomplish
We said that God’s plan from the beginning was to use the church to to accomplish the gospel mission by ordaining leaders who’s lives were saturated with Jesus and who had a devotion to the word of God.
We’re walking through the book of Titus where Paul is describing to the church planter Titus the attributes of a Christ centered church and a gospel rooted people.
Remember that Paul is calling for a godly church in the middle of an ungodly people
We closed our time last week looking at the dangers of religion
We said the religion can not produce godliness
Titus 1:16
We’ve seen Paul derive the characteristics of ungodliness, but we haven’t seen him get into godliness much.
In chapter 2, Paul begins to walk us through how the grace of God not only impacts us individually, but it’s power throughout generations of people.
Today, we’re going to see how the gospel creates a Christ-centered people that are driven by the goodness and grace of Jesus.
A Christ centered community (vs. 1-10)
But you
We’re different
We have hope
We’re not wavered
Teach sound doctrine
“Healthy”
The gospel
The gospel is generational
The people of God grow collectively in godliness when they realize their individual purpose
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
This first section of chapter 2 can be a little confrontational with a lot of modern views.
Really any verse of scripture that describes the roles of men and women for that matter
If we’re not careful, we’ll begin to buy into the lie that scripture belittles women and that women should just submit under masculine authority as if they have lesser meaning
We live in a culture that is constantly fighting for equality and justice for all
Gender equality, racial equality, justice for any situation that feel wronged in
I think in our search for these two things, we have forgotten that equality and justice weren’t really our ideas to begin with. They weren’t even Americas ideas.
Equality
“the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3:22-24 ESV
“remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:12-13 ESV
While our stories are unique they are all stories of depravity and redemption
Justice
The Bible teaches that one day Jesus is coming back and not as the lamb who was slain but the but as the lion that reigns the conquering king who will punish evil forevermore and redeem his creation
I say all of that to say, don’t forget that God is the author of good not a creator of division and chaos when you encounter a passage like Titus 2
Paul isn’t defining different roles a lesser than the other, but as supporting roles in God’s design for a godly people
This concept is easy for us to grasp in sports
The concept is the same here
Older men
Don’t lose your spirit
Jesus is still alive and so are you
I know you’re worn out, but this isn’t the time to sit back and pass the baton
It’s a time to continue pursuing Jesus every single day to be more like him
Older women
Do you remember what it was like to be a young girl?
You felt like you had to dress, talk, and act a certain way to be acceptable to society
Age does not give you a right to say and act how you want to
Don’t lose your filter
It’s a call for you to rear younger generations of women to be in love and submitted to Jesus
Live gospel centered lives at home
Ministry cannot happen outside the home unless it happens in the home first
Marriage depicts the gospel
Our primary goal is to serve Jesus
Young women
It’s not about pleasure and your purity is priceless
If he’s worried about what you can offer more than he’s worried about who you are he ain’t worried about you at all.
Young men
It’s about being the best and having the most
Everything in life is a competition
Living godly lives gives way for the gospel
The gospel at work
Make Jesus known in all you do
A grace driven purpose (vs. 11-15)
For
Because
Christ changes lives and perspectives
When Christ changes lives there’s evidence
The grace of God causes us to become aware of the things that are not of God not attracted to them
Nothing here is permanent
Do you want to see good in the world?