Sermon on Titus 3:1–15: Grace empowers good works
A sermon by Lucas Murray, a ministry apprentice at Latimer, Christchurch, New Zealand, preaching through the final chapter of Paul's letter to Titus.
Summary
Lucas Murray, a third-year ministry apprentice at Latimer church in Christchurch, New Zealand, preaches through Titus 3:1–15 as the concluding message in a series on Paul's letter to Titus. His central argument is that the gospel — the good news of what God has done through Jesus Christ — is not merely the starting point of the Christian life but its ongoing engine, empowering and enabling every good work. He draws on the cultural parallels between ancient Crete and contemporary New Zealand to argue that Christians are called to a counter-cultural life of devoted goodness, and that this life is only possible because of God's mercy and the generous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The sermon closes with a call to stress the gospel in all things and to be devoted — not merely occasionally willing — to doing good.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction and Opening Prayer
Lucas Murray: Good morning, everyone. My name's Lucas Murray. If you don't know me, I'm one of the ministry apprentices here. I'm in my third year, and it's a pleasure to open up the scriptures with you this morning. As it's been said, we are finishing off this letter from the Apostle Paul to Titus, and we're looking at chapter three. So why don't we begin with a word of prayer?
Father in heaven, we thank you for the scriptures and how you provided them for us, that we may learn who you are and we may learn the truth of the gospel. I pray today that you would help us to hear and to take to heart what you have written for us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Cave Stream Analogy
One of my favourite experiences since I moved to Christchurch about four years ago is doing the cave stream up at Castle Hill. If you don't know it, it's a big cave with a stream running through it, and you take head torches and you hike upstream through this cave until you emerge, soaked and smiling at the other end. It's a great experience, but one of the things that does make it challenging is the fact that you're walking upstream against what can be quite a strong current at times. It tests your endurance to go against the current for a long time. And if you're not paying attention, you can find yourself moving backwards — or at the very least, going pretty slowly.
One of the things we have seen as we've looked at this letter from Paul to Titus is that the Christians in Crete have a big challenge ahead of them. They're going to have to turn around and walk upstream, as it were. Their Christian lives will be a bit like doing cave stream — a constant battle against the current around them, requiring endurance, fitness, perseverance, and learning. They have trusted in God, and now they have to go against the disordered world and start living according to God's ways. And this isn't really so different from us. In fact, it is the pattern of the Christian life. And there is a lot we can learn from this concluding chapter in Titus.
What we see in this passage today is that God calls us to a life of doing good, and that good is empowered and enabled by the gospel itself. Grace leads to godliness, as we've been saying. So just as water quenches thirst or an orange tree grows an orange, grace leads to godliness.
Titus 3:1–2 — Ready to Do Good at All Times and to Everyone
The first thing we see here — and it's helpful if you have a Bible on you to have that open — looking at verses 1 and 2 from chapter 3: we are to be ready to do good at all times and to everyone.
Following directly on from chapter 2, here is Paul's command to Titus: teach with all authority, because the people need reminding to do these things. Paul has been weaving throughout his letter that the gospel brings about a life of good in a person, and no less in this chapter. Chapter 2, verse 14 says that Jesus has given himself and redeemed us from lawlessness. He is making a people that are eager to do good. So our passage today is really a continuation of this same argument, and we see straightaway some commands that flow out from being eager to do good. Those commands amount to being ready to do good at all times to everyone.
Let's skim through this list. The first command is being subject to rulers and authorities. That means knowing our place in society, and yet still under God — he has set authorities in place and we are to obey them and to recognise their authority. We're bound to do this except if they force us to disobey God. In that case, God is still our highest authority. But we can't just do away with the authorities. It is God's grace to provide rulers and authorities for us. And as much as we are culturally opposed to them or distrustful of them because of corruption and hypocrisy, God does use rulers and authorities to restrain much evil in the world. Consider a world with no police — it would be chaos. So we can both lament the evil and the injustice that comes from certain authorities while understanding that God has put them over us. Let us imitate Jesus in this regard, who even put himself under the Roman occupation when he walked the earth.
The next command is obedience, because a generally disobedient person shows that they are not subject to anyone. And how can this be for someone who is now subject to Jesus?
Next, readiness to do good — which means our general disposition and awareness. Christians should be the first to spot a need, the first to meet it, the first to take the opportunity. Are you known for that? Are we known for that as a church?
The next one is not to slander, which means being truthful and kind to others, not lashing out with our words to tear others down or damage someone's reputation.
The next: to be peaceable and considerate, which means being measured, slow to anger, thoughtful, peace-seeking. And if that isn't needed in today's world.
And the last command there is to be gentle towards everyone. If we are not gentle with people, either they will think that Christ is not gentle himself, or that we know nothing of him. And either of those options is a tragedy. So be gentle towards everyone.
We see in these commands that we must be ready for every kind of good to all people and at all times. Consider the cultural context here. We're in Crete, where we have seen already that lies, laziness, gluttony, pleasure, and evil are held up and lived by. So these commands are really corrections for the Cretans — they go against their culture, against their nature — and the same for us. But if they really are a part of the people that Jesus has purified for himself, it ought to be seen by everyone else. Otherwise, as in chapter 1, verse 16, they claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. Good must replace evil. There can be no middle ground here.
And think of the transformation to society these Cretans can bring. And no less for us, because our culture is not so very different from theirs. I've only been here a few years, granted, but it seems to me that New Zealand is built on leisure. It's a paradise for leisure — that's kind of why I moved here. It's a great place to spend your time and money. But when you combine that with a culture that is me-focused, consumerist, generally quite wealthy, quite excessive — how often do we eat till we're full and then some? Or go shopping out of boredom rather than necessity? I think it is excessive. And with an online age where lies, misinformation, and slander are commonplace — you've only got to hop on Facebook for about 30 seconds to see that — is it really so different from the Cretans? I don't think it is. We would do well to pay close attention, therefore, and obey these commands ourselves.
So: be subject to rulers and authorities, be obedient, be ready to do whatever is good, slander no one, be peaceable and considerate, and always be gentle to everyone. Paul is saying to Titus — and therefore all subsequent ministers — teach people to live like that. To be ready to do all kinds of good to all people at all times. With our kids, our colleagues, strangers, at home, in the classroom, on the sports field, driving to work. We can do this when we're kids, when we're adults, when we're older, at any stage. Be ready to do all kinds of good to all people at all times. This is the life of a Christian.
Titus 3:3–7 — The Gospel Empowers and Enables Good Works
The second thing we see here — have a look down at verses 3 to 7 — is that it is the gospel itself that empowers and enables all of those good works. The gospel empowers and enables good works.
Throughout the letter, Paul has been emphasising time and again that it is grace that leads to godliness. And he's really strong on this because the Cretans are being unproductive in their faith. They're still struggling to go against their culture and their nature and to do the good that they have been saved for. But he doesn't want them just to start doing good for the sake of doing good. He wants them to realise that what God has done for them through Christ is the very power and purpose of these good works. And Paul also wants to guard against them thinking that somehow by doing good they will earn God's favour, because this would be forgetting the gospel and returning to futility.
And this gospel — the good news that Jesus has come to bring salvation to all who trust in him — is powerful to transform people. It has been for 2,000 years. The ongoing witness of the church is a powerful testimony. People are still being transformed, brought from a life of evil and confusion into a life of light and good works. And we know this is true because we are not what we were.
We were all those things in verse 3. Have a look down at that list. We were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. What a miserable life it was. Think of those times in your life where foolishness or disobedience would have characterised you — I can think of years of that. Or times when you were simply deceived and enslaved or addicted to all kinds of things. Think about those words you've said dripping with malice, the envy of your heart, the hatred of your heart. It's distressing to consider these things. But no longer.
Consider your life. See how far God has brought you. But perhaps you can't see this change in yourself — I grant that it isn't always easy to. Many of us are currently battling with some of these things. But here is an encouragement: look around. We can see it in each other. We are not what we were. Just think — why is hearing someone's testimony so encouraging? Because we're hearing about the power of the Lord Jesus to change people, and we can see it. We can hear it.
We were once deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. Deceived because we thought that we were in control of ourselves, and enslaved because we weren't. A person's passions and pleasures are a strong force. We are not free to go against them. Our actions are always controlled by our own desires. And since our natural desire is not for God, we had no power to turn to him, and we thought there was nothing wrong with it. We were on a road that only goes one way.
And yet, the joy in this passage is that by the grace of God, we have been freed. Note again there how it says in verse 5 that it was not because of righteous things we had done — for what could we ever do that would reverse this condition? No, it was by God's mercy. And even as we look today at how to live and doing righteous things, we must not forget that God has had mercy on us before we were even capable of loving him. This is why it is called the gospel, meaning good news. Christianity is an outrageously happy worldview. This is the happiness of a Christian: that God has seen fit to release us from being enslaved to our own passions and desires that would only take us further away from him. He has had mercy on us and enables us to live lives genuinely pleasing to him.
So not only does God free us, but he empowers and enables us for every good work. See verse 5 — he does this by the renewal of the Holy Spirit. He is transforming us to be like Jesus. The Holy Spirit himself is our teacher and power. And in verse 6, he has been poured out on us generously, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. We don't just have a little drop of the Holy Spirit — we don't just have a little bit of the Holy Spirit that God gave us begrudgingly. No, we have the whole person. Through Christ, the Holy Spirit is poured out generously. We get all of him. Through Jesus, the Christian is enabled vigorously to follow God. Costa said last week that God's grace sets us on fire for him. The gospel is not weak. God has poured out the Holy Spirit generously. The Holy Spirit has been given in abundance. So the renewal and transformation that he brings is also abundant, just as the life to come will be abundant.
And Paul is wanting them to understand that the gospel itself is the engine room for good works. And we must know this as well. The gospel empowers and enables every good work.
Two Implications: Stress the Gospel and Be Devoted to Doing Good
So with that in mind, two implications for us to cement in our minds, because this is what Paul wants for these Christians in Crete, and it is the pattern for every Christian.
The first implication is that the gospel must be stressed in all things. Verses 8 to 11 can help us here. If you look at verse 8, it says: this is a trustworthy saying. This gospel, this good news of what God has done through Jesus, is a trustworthy saying. Here is something to trust. Here is something to build your life on. And so Paul says to Titus — and therefore every minister after him — stress and insist upon the gospel and do not be distracted. The gospel message is to be at the heart of things. It must be. And by extension, the Christian is to focus on and stress the gospel. The gospel alone has the power for transformation, for endurance, for joy, peace, love, goodness, and the ability to walk in God's ways. Apart from the gospel, we are unable to bring this about. We were enslaved. If we seek to do good works but forget the gospel of the grace of God, then it is pointless. If we seek to live our new lives in Christ but forget the gospel, we have nothing.
Sometimes it's tempting to gloss over the good news of Jesus. I find this sometimes as a younger Christian. There are so many things that I don't know, so many things to learn about God, so many exciting questions. But the danger is that I treat the gospel as some sort of elementary teaching to be learned as a kid and then move on from. But no — it's the very source of nourishment and perseverance. So we must insist upon the gospel as the very centre point of life.
There is a cultural movement, I think, to want Christian morals without Christ himself. People appreciate many things about living as a Christian, but they don't want Jesus. But it cannot work. You can't have that. And if you leave here this morning thinking you should simply try to be a better person or do more good, you will have missed the point. The gospel of Jesus is the very centre, and all good works flow from a thorough and intimate knowledge of this truth. So let's stress the gospel. We must not be distracted from this.
And look down at verse 9 — a quick way to lose sight of the gospel is wasting our time in useless controversies, quarrels, and divisions. We live in a world where controversies and divisions are pretty essential to good entertainment. But in our family life, in our conversations, in our Bible studies, in our preaching, in our engagement with culture, we must stress the gospel. We can't get lost. We love a debate, I think. Humans are curious creatures. We want to explore other points of view and learn all kinds of interesting things. But we're also divisive and bitter creatures. We quickly descend into quarrels, or as it says here, useless controversies. We take sides, we fight, we argue for hours on end, we divide and feud — and often over American politics of all things, and many others like that. And it's bled into the church too. Consider how much time we spend in Bible studies getting lost in controversies and divisions. It's just so easy. But it is a waste if it distracts us from focusing on the gospel itself. None of these other things have the power that the gospel does. Debate and curiosity is good and helpful, necessary even, but only if it does not distract us, both within the church and without. We must instead stress and insist upon the gospel in all things.
The second implication for us is that we must learn to be devoted to doing what is good. Those last few verses in the passage, as well as verse 8, can help us here. This has been Paul's emphasis, and here he is pressing it home: the gospel frees us for a new life of good. Grace leads to godliness. So we must be devoted to doing good.
Take a look at this quote on the screen on this topic from one of the church's greatest preachers, John Chrysostom. He says: "God's mission was not to save people in order that they may remain barren or inert." Well said, I think. What he means by this is that God has not saved us to a life with our feet up. Barren means empty, like the desert — there's nothing going on there. But no, instead we should be full, full of good works. And the other word there, inert — it means unreactive. Consider a light bulb. Inside a light bulb, they put an inert gas, something that won't react with anything and cause a fire. But Christians aren't supposed to be unreactive. We are meant to react directly to the world around us, to see the godlessness and chaos not with apathy but with action. We are to be proactive, even. We are to see an opportunity to do good and react, respond to it.
If I can draw your attention to the word devoted there, which appears a couple of times — it means doing everything that we can, being ready to see the need and meet it. And we can take God's own example here, because God has not withheld anything from us. We have seen already that through Jesus, our greatest need has been met and in abundance. If we understand the strength and the abundance of God's grace through Jesus, we won't just want to do good, but we will be devoted to it. Doing good will be our first thought and our high priority, even when it doesn't suit us.
Consider a devoted husband. He tries to see every and any opportunity to do good for his wife, to serve her, to champion her, to please her. Or consider someone devoted to their kids — they take every opportunity to do everything they can for them, to provide the best, to make decisions that will be in their best interest, to structure family life for their good. Being devoted is being reactive, not inert. It's taking every opportunity for good, not being content with an empty and, as Paul says there in verse 14, an unproductive life.
We must learn to do this so as to show and confirm the power of the gospel, to show how attractive it is. Notice that Titus and the church there are to help the travelling teachers and evangelists, Zenas and Apollos, by seeing that they have all that they need. And by helping them, they are helping the gospel to reach more and more people. The good that they must learn to do is anything that will further the gospel. They have an opportunity to directly support the spread of the gospel by caring for these men. Paul wants their new priority to be seen. If they supply the needs of Zenas and Apollos, they will not only be furthering the gospel, but also confirming its power to each other and to everyone else. Because they're not what they were. Who would have thought that a Cretan would do such a thing? They were supposed to be lazy gluttons, right? And now here they are, loving strangers, taking the focus off themselves to ensure a message of peace and hope goes to all people. Here is their opportunity to walk upstream against the current, and show the power of Jesus — to be credible witnesses, showing the message to be attractive to people around them.
Conclusion — A Call to Walk Upstream
And it is the same for us. Our culture has similarities with the Cretan one described here. If we are absolutely devoted to doing good, ready to see any opportunity to serve and love others, taking those opportunities often — and not just when it suits us, because everybody does a little bit of good if it suits them — so not just when it suits us, but if we stress the gospel and understand that it empowers and enables all the good that we could do, then we will truly be a people fitting for Jesus and a light for the world.
If we are the ones who meet urgent needs, who care for those in need, who act at all times with grace and peace in a controversial and polemic world, if we are known to be peaceful and happy, people will ask. People will ask: what changed you? How can you have such peace in this situation? Why do you have hope? Why do you spend so much time and effort in the interest of others? Why do you give your money the way you do? Why do you behave like that? And we will be able to tell them that we are not as we were, that Jesus has changed me. So if we have a clear grasp of the gospel and it is central to our lives, we will be able to answer with clarity and joy.
Are we known for that? Perhaps we need to learn again how to be devoted. Perhaps we need to come back to the gospel and drink deep. So where are the opportunities for us to be devoted to good? Where can we further the gospel? Is it at home? Is it at work? Is it supporting missionaries? Is it at school? Is it with our money, with our time, with our words? Or perhaps — where have we let the gospel be forgotten? Where are we failing to stress it as of most importance in our lives?
Let's be praying for opportunities to do all kinds of good, to be ready to do it, that we might be credible witnesses to Jesus and show the power and the beauty of a life with him. Let's stress the gospel, drink deeply, and learn to be devoted to doing what is good.
So let's ask the Lord's help in doing that. Would you pray with me?
Our Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for this gospel of grace that we have received in Jesus. Thank you for the pouring out of your Holy Spirit. Lord, we ask that you would teach us to be devoted to doing what is good, that we might bless the world around us and testify to your goodness and mercy. Help us to be searching and ready to do all kinds of good and to centre our lives on the good news of Jesus. And it is in his name that we ask. Amen.