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Titus 2:11-15
Excerpted from: Titus 2:11-14Do you realize that this is the very reason why we have received grace from God? I am going to show it to you.
These verses are jam-packed with instruction regarding our responsibility toward this subject. I think that all of us coming from this Protestant-dominated society have grown up with the belief that grace is a free gift!
Now, free it is—I do not deny that! But I also think that there is a possibility that we do not understand what the Bible means by free. I am going to clarify that for you. Think of these next verses in terms of yourself as being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, is being a disciple of Christ free to us? These verses say to me that we have to give up everything! That is not cheap! And He mentions this in the context of the things that are normally the most dear to us of all things on earth—our flesh-and-blood relatives!
There is no greater price that a human being can pay than to give up his family and, yes, his own life! That is not cheap! That is not free!
Grace is the most costly thing that has ever been given to this earth. It was costly in terms of the life of the very Creator—the God who made everything! He gave His life! And in return, in order to receive that grace, He demands of us—you and me—that we give up our lives. It is not cheap. It is not free.
Then how can people say that it is free? Brethren, I do not know whether Christ could have made the cost of our obligation any clearer than He did right here. There are no relationship ties stronger than blood ties.
We have probably heard the saying, "blood is thicker than water." The origin of this saying came out of the Church of England, I believe. Blood ties are stronger than the Holy Spirit (water). They recognized that family ties would pull people away from the truth of God. They are that powerful!
Grace is not free and it is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination! Then He tells us that in addition to this we have to humbly bear any burden that comes upon us as a result of our discipleship, as a result of our having received such forgiveness. Sometimes that cost can be very great. It is pretty sweeping in terms of its consequence.
Free does not mean cheap; it means that God freely gave it—that is what it means. God was under no constraint. There was no obligation on His part to do what He did. He owes us absolutely nothing for what we have done. Grace is an aspect of His love that has no motive but itself. "God so loved the world that He gave. . ."
Looking at history, brethren, is there anything about us that is lovable? Look at what we have done to this earth! Look at what we have done to one another! In the name of "God" we have blown one another to smithereens! Brethren, if someone did something to your property and to your family the way we have treated God's property and family, I think that we would have an awfully difficult time freely giving love. In fact, we may be unable, totally, to do it! We do not have a love of that depth. But God freely gave it—under no obligation whatsoever.
So grace is a self-motivating, stooping, communicating, tender, and forgiving mercy which has appeared, it says in this verse (back to Titus 2). It has appeared. This word, appeared, is the same word that is used in Greek literature to describe the bursting forth of the sun in a glorious sunrise over the darkened earth! The feminine form of this word is used in the Bible to describe Christ's first coming and His second coming. It is usually used in the passive tense and it means "to show openly; to shine forth light upon." It has the sense of something occurring suddenly and unexpectedly.
I think in this context Paul is saying that we normally do not expect grace to teach us something. Grace teaches us something. Are we aware of that? The word "teach" is very interesting, as well. It is paideuo, in the Greek.
This word is used in the sense of … . . .
Titus 2:11-15
Excerpted from: Grace Upon GraceGrace here appears as the connotation of penetrating in the same way that light penetrates darkness. It does not just appear to darkness, but rather it penetrates it and disperses it. That is what grace does to a human being. It enters into a person's life, penetrates it, and begins dynamically to produce things.
This is what John 1 is about. God came to the earth and He penetrated it. The grace of God appeared to man in the person of Jesus. It can be translated that God's grace made its appearance, salvation bringing.
Grace can rescue man from the greatest possible evil. What could that possibly be? The greatest possible evil that anybody can face is God's curse. Men can curse you, but if God curses you, you have had it. That curse is sin—I should say the penalty of sin. That would be more specific.
But God counterbalanced that, and more, by giving us grace. So here, then, grace is seen as the power that teaches. It trains us. It disciplines us. It guides and leads us. It does not force us. In other places it can been seen as being used as counseling, comforting, encouraging, admonishing, guiding, convicting, rewarding, even restraining. It teaches us that we must deny immorality, that we must give ourselves over to self-mastery, that is, controlling ourselves. We must give ourselves over to integrity and devotion right here and now. And all the while, expectantly and patiently looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead.
ArticlesCommunication and Leaving Babylon (Part Two)
Living By Faith and God's Grace (Part Two)
SermonsTitus (Part Five): A Church in Training
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part 2)
Paul's Letter to Titus (Part 2)
Freedom, Liberty, and Bondage
Looking Forward
Living by Faith: God's Grace (Part 4)
God's Law in Our Mouths
Deuteronomy and Holiness
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