Almost every day I share with our church family whatever God
spoke into my heart that morning. I do this partly to identify the specific
work of God in me in order to encourage others to consider how our parts of the
body of Christ are to work together. And, I do this partly to testify to
everyone that God never fails to speak something from his word so that we know
something of what he is doing and how we ought to put it into practice.
Most of my blog posts come out of my morning time with God,
and the sharing I have already done with our portion of the church. However,
there are many times when I’ve wondered if I should just share my sharing (with
minor edits to remove anything too personal, of course), and let God apply it
to hearts however he sees fit.
With that in mind, here is how God ministered to me today.
It is more than just some thoughts for the day, or an intellectual study of
doctrine. Rather, it is seeking to unite people to: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing
one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.”[1]
While we may not be able to get together (you and I) to teach, admonish, sing,
and give thanks, we can take whatever encouragement God gives through this
fellowship in his word and find others we can share with for the building up of
us all.
Today’s sharing:
Zealous For Good
Works
First, as I began
praying this morning, I had the phrase, “eager
to do good,”[2]
pop into my head. I knew the passage it came from, so I thought I would
consider it in context. After looking at it, let’s just say that I wanted to do
a Bible study on the whole book of Titus! It kept uncovering layer-upon-layer
of truth and exhortation that basically smacked me upside the head (my
interpretation) and reminded me that Jesus is building a church that is:
9 But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you
may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. (I Peter 2)[3]
This identification
of who we are (yes, who we ARE in Jesus Christ), makes my heart feel very
serious about whatever God is doing in me and in my church family. I am not
what my sark keeps telling me I am.[4]
I am not what childhood memories tell me I am. I am not what my failures tell
me I am. I am what God has made me as a member of the body of Christ, as the
one people who belong to him through the shed blood of our Savior raising us to
life in God’s Son.
Second, when I
looked at the passage from Titus, I was reminded of so many things. I fear
doing a “summary”, because that is like hoping someone will read the travel
brochure and get as much out of it as I got making the journey. Alas, here’s my
best shot.
I was reminded that
everything revolves around this encouraging and hope-filled expression, “For the grace of God has appeared”.[5]
This truly changes
everything. No matter what we are going through, and how our sarks and souls
battle over who is in charge, the reason we have hope of being anything at all
in our Lord Jesus Christ is that “the
grace of God has appeared.”
This one phrase is a
whole world of teaching and reminders that should encourage us all about anything
we are facing. So often I find discouragement attacking our souls because that
old works-based, performance-oriented mindset interprets the will of God as
something so impossibly burdensome that we give up all hope of ever attaining
what he says in his word.
However, when we see
the whole gospel of the kingdom, the whole collection of writings from one end
of the New Testament to the other, as the expression of God’s grace appearing,
then the only way we can look at anything God expects of his church is that his
will will be done because he is the one doing it.
After all, since the
big picture is that God is taking sinners who have fallen short of the glory of
God, fallen short of his “very good”
design for us in his own image and likeness,[6]
and he is presently conforming us into the same image as our Lord Jesus Christ “from one degree of glory to another”,[7]
we can’t ever think of this as something WE can do. Of course it is going to
sound impossible to our old selves.[8]
It can’t be any other way.
When we read that “the grace of God has appeared”, it is
like our Firstborn Brother has just shown up to take on our worst enemies, or
to help us do some impossible task. When we are afraid of something inside us
that our heavenly Father relentlessly leads into the light, we have our
Firstborn Brother appearing, holding us in his hands as the powers of darkness
rage all around us. We are not hopeless because things are impossible for us,
but we are filled with hope because our Firstborn Brother has brought the grace
of God into our lives to more than match anything we are facing.
What God is
connecting for me is the truth that “the
grace of God has appeared,”[9]
with his description of me as part of, “a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
The message is clear: the grace of God turns us into “a people” who are “zealous
for good works.” Our sarks can scream, “Not so! Not so!” all they want; the
fact of God’s grace appearing in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and in
the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, tells us that
God will not fail to do what he has purposed.
How do I handle this? Here’s how Paul told Titus to handle what
is written about the work of God’s grace:
15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no
one disregard you. (Titus 2)
In the Positive:
- Declare: (teach ~ NIV) proclaim the whole counsel of God
- Exhort: (encourage ~ NIV) urge people to walk in the obedience of faith
- Rebuke: (rebuke ~ NIV) confront those who choose anything contrary to God’s word with the aim of leading them into the fullness of God’s will
In the Negative:
- Let no one disregard you: (despise ~ NIV) Titus was to so honor the whole counsel of God that he would not tolerate anyone in the church disregarding the teachings he was passing on, or disregarding him as a messenger of these teachings of sound doctrine
I always find it
difficult when I’m the one trying to be a faithful man teaching the apostolic
teachings to others.[10]
However, the focus is never on the man, the person proclaiming the whole counsel
of God, but the fact that it is the whole counsel of God and we who are
entrusted with the message of the New Testament are not to allow people to
disregard or despise us for presenting all Scripture to their hearts and minds
with the aim of nurturing obedient faith in all who profess the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Note: Paul had already talked about the other kind of person
who professes faith in Christ earlier in the letter. He described them as, “They profess to know God, but they deny him
by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.[11]
It is in this context that Paul wanted Titus to remind the people that the
grace of God makes us a people who are “zealous
for good works” rather than “unfit
for any good work”.
Conclusion: Whatever
I face today, I will look at how the grace of God has already appeared, and how
it is going to present ministry to me to help me be zealous for good works no
matter how impossible it might appear. My Firstborn Brother is with me/us to
the very end of the age. We can do all things through him who strengthens us.[12]
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Colossians 3:16
[2]
Titus 2:14 (as I recalled it from the NIV); “zealous
for good works” in ESV.
[3]
See also Revelation 1:5b-6, and 5:8-10, for parallel descriptions of who we are
as the children of God’s kingdom.
[4]
I use “sark”, the transliteration of the Greek word “sarx”, in reference to
what our English translations identify as the “flesh”. The sark, or flesh, is
that part of us that continues to seek what is contrary to the will of God even
while we have a new nature in Christ Jesus that pursues righteousness, peace,
and joy, in the Holy Spirit.
[5]
Titus 2:11; see context of Titus 2:11-14
[6]
Genesis 1 shows how God made everything “good”,
and, upon completing his creation of man declared that everything was “very good”. Genesis 1:26-27 shows that
God originally created us in his own image and likeness, what is then described
in greater detail in Genesis 2. Genesis 3 shows how sin entered the world and
corrupted everything we do as human beings, leaving us with the indictment that
“all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
[7]
II Corinthians 3:18
[8]
The contrast between what we can expect of our old selves, and what we can
expect of our new selves, is presented very clearly in Ephesians 4:21-24, with
the greater context of Ephesians 4:17-24
[9]
Titus 2:11
[10]
II Timothy 2:1-2
[11]
Titus 1:16
[12]
Philippians 4:13
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