Waiting Expectantly

Titus 2:11-15 

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.--Titus 2:11

These two phrases (1) "the grace of God" and (2) "has appeared" are found together in only one place in the Bible and that is here in verse 11.  So we must ask ourselves the question.  “What do these two phrases mean and what or who do they refer to?”

Part of the answer is found in the rest of the sentence “that brings salvation …to all men."

The other part can be found in the Book of Romans,  The Apostle Paul, who wrote these instructions here to Titus, is also credited for writing the Epistle of Paul to the Romans.  We find the following in Romans 1:16-17: 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” 

In Accord

Titus 2:1-10

Welcome! Today we continue our series in the book of Titus. Two weeks ago I opened the series by saying that God desires to build us up into a mature body of believers, one in which its people are continually growing in faith and wisdom, multiplying their lives into those around them. I used the analogy of a skyscraper being built and talked about how in many places in the world you see half-finished projects, abandoned due to running out of money or due to other problems, and I pointed out the unfortunate fact that if you look around you, it is easy to find Christians who also seem to stagnate, to stay half-finished, incomplete. The instructions Paul gives to Titus are meant to ensure that this would not happen to the local bodies of believers in Crete, and its principles can and should be applied by every church everywhere so that they too would grow up to maturity.

Now I don’t know if you remember much of what I said two weeks ago, but today I am actually describing things subtly differently than I did then. What is the difference? Well, two weeks ago, I presented this analogy from the point of view of us as individuals, saying that, for example, I don’t want my faith to stagnate, and so I should look to see in the book of Titus how I can continually grow in wisdom, in purity, in faith, in love, and in multiplying my life to others around me. Now, I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong with this personal view – we should each desire personally to grow in Christ and in Christlikeness. But that’s only part of the picture, and before we dig into the details of the first part of the second chapter of Titus, I want to dwell on this for a bit.

Testimony

Titus 1:10-16

Good morning, we continue today in our six week series in the book of Titus.  This series, like Paul’s letter to Titus, is focused on ensuring we mature and become a fully built up follower, disciple of Christ.

Carl introduced the book and dove right in to chapter 1 last week.  We’ll look at a couple of thoughts from the first half of chapter 1, and then move on into today’s passage.  Before we do that, let’s take a moment and pray.

God, I cry out to you.  Please speak to us from this passage in Titus.  Show us how to apply what Paul wrote to Titus here and now in our lives.  I thank you that “all Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” (II Timothy 3:16).  Use this time this morning, to train us up in who and what you desire us to become “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  (Ephesians 4:13)  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Entrusted

Titus 1:1-9

Welcome! Today we begin a new series entitled Titus: Building a People of God. The picture that has been used to advertise this series shows a group of men in the 1930s building a skyscraper. In poorer countries, it is common to see half-finished buildings, grand dreams of one or more people that have run smack dab into a very different reality.

In America this is less common because most major construction requires approval by a group of investors (such as a bank) who refuse to loan out money until they are nearly certain the project can be completed. However, it does still happen in America. Where I grew up in California, there was a planned freeway that was supposed to connect two other major freeways, but they ran into legal trouble when they were about to cut through a community called South Pasadena and had to stop building. There were even exit ramps that went high into the air and stopped abruptly. This project came to a halt before I was born, and it is still in litigation nearly 50 years later with no end in sight.