Making The Good Life Look Good: The Good Life (Week 5)

This Sunday, Lead Pastor Joe Valenti teaches that the good life is found not in ruling ourselves but in surrendering to Jesus, allowing the gospel to shape how we live even in circumstances we cannot control. We learn that when we faithfully trust Christ, submit to His Spirit, and reflect His character through every season of life, we adorn the gospel and point others to the beauty and hope found in Him.

PDF Resources: ( Sermon Notes )

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I want to invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Titus this morning. That's where we'll be spending our time. And as you get there, uh share a little bit of my reading habits. I really enjoy reading autobiographies. And last year I read the autobiography of Sam Walton, who uh is the is the man who is basically the founder of Walmart. And it tells his story of starting back in rural Arkansas in these little five and dime stores and how he fell in love with the practice and the skill of merchandising. If you're not familiar with merchandising, essentially it is taking things and uh making them look good such that people will buy them. And so, you know, sometimes one of the ways that people merchandise things is with these guys. You never see those like, hey, there's a car that you can afford at this car lot. Come right over. And there's something about these guys where you go, you know, I do want to buy a car from you. I was l I was wanting one of these, and Denise goes, I have a mini one. I said, Of course you do. You're our children's minister. Why would you not have one of these? But here's the thing: sometimes merchandising actually dupes us into buying things that we don't need or things that are not worth it. And you all know that feeling. You get home and you start unpacking the bags and you think, why in the world did I buy this? One of the things that Sam Walton did is he actually got a great deal. He he he traveled to buy all of these underwear. And he said, I'm telling you, you can you can sell anything if you just merchandise it correctly. And people thought he was crazy. He filled the bins at the front of his five and dime store with underwear, and they sold like that. Go figure. And this is a trick. Making something cheap look good is a trick that the devil uses to try and convince us that the self-ruled life is the good life. Maybe the the there's a there's a sign out front that says authenticity. The culture tells you that you need to be your authentic self and so live your truth. Follow your heart. Let your feelings be the compass for morality. Maybe the sale sign out front says autonomy. Freedom means power and independence. And so don't let anybody tell you what to do with your body or with your time or with your money. This is how autonomy is marketed, and yet it leaves us lonely. Maybe the sign out front says ambition. If you can just make enough, dress well enough, have enough, retire early, you will be safe and fulfilled. And all those signs are, are these things scamming you into thinking that the self-ruled life is the good life. But there's another way to live, and we're calling it the true good life. The God-led life or the God-word life is the true good life. See, instead of fake authenticity, the gospel offers us true identity and worth that we don't have to invent ourselves, but that comes from being an image-bearer and child or son of God. Instead of lonely autonomy, the gospel offers us absolute security. See, freedom doesn't come from lack of authority. Freedom comes from living under the right authority. And so when we stop trying to protect ourselves and surrender to the sovereignty of God, we don't lose our freedom. We actually gain a father. And we are in the safest place in the entire world. Instead of selfish ambition, the gospel offers us eternal purpose, something more to live for than just the next job or the next dollar or the next vacation. See the culture's out there doing the wavy flaily arm guy. Saying, you should be in charge of you. That's the good life. And the Bible is not interested in cheap tricks, but is interested in communicating clearly the truth to you that the gospel, that the good news that God loves you and died for you and has a plan for you is of infinite worth. And that's what Titus is about. And particularly in chapter 2, he's talking to people within the church who are Christians, and he's essentially saying, How are you merchandising? How are you communicating to the world that the Christian life is the good life? How are the things you say, the things you do, the way you live, the things you think, communicating about the God-ruled life? Are we communicating that it's no different than what the world offers? Or is there eternal purpose and satisfaction and joy and peace? And last week, Kyle started this section in chapter 2 where every person in the body of Christ has a role to play. He speaks to older women, younger women, older men, younger men. But there are two more groups of people that have this opportunity to adorn. That's the word that the New Testament uses, to adorn the gospel, to make the good life, the Godword life, look good. And as I preached this message, I practiced it a couple times during the week, and everybody who listened to it both times said, Hey, Joe, this feels like two different sermons. And it felt a little long as well. So what I did is I took chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, and I turned them into a blog post. In that section, Paul is addressing young leaders. So older men, younger men, older women, younger women. Then he addresses young leaders. How are young leaders to adorn the gospel? And we're just going to spend our time in verses nine and ten today. With this last group of people that have the opportunity to adorn the gospel. Look with me, Titus chapter 2, beginning in verse 9. Bond servants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Now, the Greek word at the root here when you read bond servant is doulos. Now, bond servant we don't use typically in twenty-first century English. What we do use is slave. And it's a sobering word. It's an ugly word. And it is such because of a Christian ethic. The reason that slavery makes us feel anger, sadness, a myriad of emotions is because God has given us dignity as humans. That doesn't come from anywhere else. And so when we read things like this, we want to know that the Bible has something to say about it. See, about one third of the entire population of the Roman Empire at this point were slaves or bondservants. And they they they could have gotten into that situation in several ways. One way would be they were prisoners of war. Another way is there was a robust human trafficking market in those days. And a third common way is due to debt. So in first century Judea and first century Turkey, there were no no there there were no bankruptcy laws. And so if you got into debt over your head, you could actually sell yourself into indentured servanthood to the person to whom you owned money. People would get into being a bondservant or a slave that way. So there's a very diverse group of people, but Paul addresses them because if the stats flesh out, a third of the people that are in the church, a third of the people that are believers are also bondservants. And so we lean in. And we think, okay, well, what does the Bible have to say? And then we read, bondservants, be submissive to your master. What? You are to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Now, that causes me to just time out. Paul, what you're saying to first century Christian slaves is that the way for them to adorn the gospel, to make the God life look like the good life, is to obey your master? That's the answer we have? See, this can spin us out. This is what the Bible says about slavery. This is what Paul thinks. Paul, it seems like he's being flippant about it. And for some, this is this is really a hang-up with Christianity as a whole. Until I get over Titus 2, verses 9 and 10. I'm not sure I want to be a Christian because what Paul doesn't seem to be worried about justice here. And if Paul's not worried about justice, then God's not worried about justice, and I'm not sure I want to worship a God like that. Well, we don't have time to go into all that the Bible says, but I'd like to propose to you as we dig into this text today a different way of seeing things. Use this as an illustration. Suppose that I'm writing a letter to persecuted believers in another country. So I sit down with my pen and my paper and my Bible, and I'm prayerful before the Lord, and I'm thinking, how do I encourage these brothers and sisters? And I try to fill the page with encouragements that are rooted in Scripture, that vengeance belongs to the Lord. That we are not to repay evil for evil, but to repay evil with good, to remind them that Jesus Christ Himself prayed for those who are crucifying, saying, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. And I write a prayer at the end and sign it with love and hope in Christ, Pastor Joe. Now, let's say you intercept that letter. Would you say, Pastor Joe, what is this nonsense? And maybe I'm taken aback a little bit. And I say, What do you what do you mean? You didn't address the slavery in their situation at all. You never talked about the politics, you never talked about how wrong it was, you never talked about this country and their leaders and how this was not right, you never encouraged them towards revolt or escape. How dare you? No, you you probably would not respond to me that way. Why? Well, because the purpose of my writing is not to address the leaders of that country or the political system of that country or the persecution of Christians in that country. The aim of my letter is to pastor and to shepherd hurting believers in the middle of a situation that they cannot control. And that is the same thing that Paul is doing here. In no way is Paul making a claim that slavery is okay, or that he approves of it. He's simply pastoring the reality of the moment. And he's choosing a different tactic, a different Holy Spirit-inspired tactic. See, if if if Paul via Titus would have encouraged some sort of uprising among the slaves in Crete, I'll tell you what would have happened. The Romans would have slaughtered them. The Romans were the baddest, meanest people on the planet in this time. And they took their rule and reign very seriously. And so the the early church in Crete would have been destroyed if Paul would have addressed that situation in that way. Instead, he says, in much the same way that Jesus does when he talks to Pilate before his crucifixion, we're not talking about the same type of kingdoms. And so he actually brings dignity to the slaves. See where everyone else counts them out. You don't matter in society. You have no standing, you have no worth, not Paul and not within the church. He says, no, no, no, no, no. You, bond servants, also have a vital role to play in this kingdom movement, namely by the way you live inside of a situation of which you have no control, you can cause both your master and those in the household you serve, and to every watching eye, you can cause them to see the gospel as infinitely beautiful. You can adorn the doctrine of Jesus Christ even inside of this situation. Now, you might say, hey, that's a great story, Pastor Joe. But I don't live in first century Roman Empire. What am I to do with this? Well, I want to quote a very famous Bible scholar named Becca Ferguson. She said this in our sermon prep meeting this week, and I thought to myself, that is so good. Will you write that down? And she did, and here's what she says. When you are able to seek justice, particularly for others, do so. But when you are unable to enact justice or are trapped in a system in which you are a victim, remember that your opportunity to live meaningfully for the kingdom of God is not gone. Oh, I'm gonna read that again. If you are trapped in a system in which you are a victim, remember that your opportunity to live meaningfully for the kingdom of God is not gone. This is good news for those in Crete and for those today who are living in injustices that they alone are not able to change or perhaps fix completely on this side of heaven. So, whenever possible, seek and enact justice in the name of Christ. When not possible, remember that the life you live for Christ within the context of circumstances outside your control is not now and will never be in vain. Amen. Amen. See, you may not be in the situation of a bond servant in the traditional way like Paul is speaking of here, but maybe you are stuck in a situation that you have no control over. It may be a workplace that is toxic and harmful, and yet because of your situation, the finances, the economy, you don't have another option. Maybe you're trapped in a marriage that is broken and hurting and struggling, and you're desperately trying to pray through it, and you wish that you had some control over how your spouse would respond. Maybe you deeply desire to be married and yet you don't have control over that situation. Maybe you're walking through the battle with infertility and you wish you had a little bit more control, and you're just stuck and you don't know how to live or what to do. Maybe your unchosen circumstance is a medical diagnosis, or a mountain of debt, or a legal battle that controls your time and energy and your future. Now, what the world is gonna tell you when you find yourself in those situations is rule your own life. They're gonna try and sell you a cheap substitute. You know, if you were just in charge of you, things would be a whole lot better. Something that's far less cheap and flashy. Something that's actually a little bit difficult. He commends to the bond servants in Crete and to you. In whatever situation you find yourself that you don't have control over, your circumstances do not dictate your value and your purpose in the mission of God. There's a story of a young woman in the fourth century in the country of Georgia. Georgia is south of Russia and it's on the east bank of the Black Sea. And there was a, in the in the eastern kingdom of Georgia, it was known as the Iberian Kingdom in the fourth century. And there was a woman, her name is Nina. But Rufinus, the church historian, when he recounts her story, just calls her the captive woman or the slave woman. And we don't know how she got into slavery in that context. But what we do have recorded is her extraordinary character. That she is a woman who Rufinus records that prayer and fasting were like her food. That she was a woman of extraordinary character and morals, dignity, love, and forgiveness. And she got such a reputation for her Godward life, even in the midst of slavery, that people started asking her to pray for them. And there are many miracles that are recorded that came as a result of the captive woman's prayers. She gained so much notoriety that the queen, Queen Nana of the Iberian Kingdom, came to her because she was sick. And history tells us that the queen was healed as a result of the captive woman's prayers. Well, she goes back to the king, King Miriam III, and he says, We need to do something for her. And so he has plans to free her and give her gold and silver. And she goes, You're wasting your time, husband. None of those things does she have an interest in. The only thing that she wants for payment is that me and you would worship this God that she calls Jesus Christ. Well, the king kind of sloughs it off until he finds himself in a predicament, in a storm, lost in the woods during a hunt. And he doesn't even say it out loud. The way that the history is recorded is that he just thought it to himself. Well, he records that the clouds cleared and the sun returned. And he made good on that promise that he made in his brain. He called his wife to him, and he called Nina, the captive woman, to him. And he said, I want you to tell us everything that you know about Jesus Christ. And Rufines, the church history and historian, says that then he taught the men of the kingdom, and his wife taught the women of the kingdom, and revival came to the Iberian kingdom because a slave woman decided that her worth in the kingdom of God and in the mission of God would not be dependent on her circumstances. And in much the same way, Paul calls the Cretan bondservants to this life, and he calls you and me to this life. But Paul isn't just standing at a distance telling you and I how we ought to live. If you have your Bible in front of you, I want you to look back to Titus chapter 1. Because verse 9 of chapter 2 is not the first time that we see the Greek word doulos or slave. We see it earlier in the book of Titus. It's just rendered in English differently. Titus chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a doulos of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. See, everybody is a slave to something. In the first chapter of Moby Dick, the narrator Ishmael says, Who ain't a slave? Tell me that. Because he knows, like Paul knows, like you know, everyone is a slave to something. You might be a slave to your desires, to your lusts, to your passions, to your bank account, to the success of your children, and a hundred other things, or you can be a slave to Jesus. See, in the ancient world, when you were a doulos, you were completely owned. Your time was not yours, your money was not yours, your body was not yours, your future was not yours. You existed to do whatever it was that the master told you to do. Absolute submission. And what happens in our lives is when we believe the flailing arm guy. When we believe that the world's vision is right, we become enslaved to our sin. And the only freedom that we will ever find is not to be in charge of ourselves, but to join Paul in becoming a slave to Jesus. Because he's a wonderful master. I mentioned earlier the word slave is a nasty word. And it almost always has a negative connotation, except right here in Titus 1.1. To be a slave to God is a beautiful thing and a glorious thing. Because it brings true life and true freedom. Maybe you ask, well, what did Jesus do that is so great that deserves that kind of sacrifice? Philippians 2 tells us. It says, Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a doulos. That's extraordinary what you just read. That the God of the universe would become a slave, a servant, would lay down his rights. Why? And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The ultimate example of what it means to adorn the gospel. To make the God Word life look like the good life. And perhaps you're sitting here today, or you're watching online, and you've realized by something I've said or something we've sung, or maybe it's a series of moments that led up to this moment, that you're enslaved to your sin. Just like Alexander shared in her story. You're enslaved to your own desires, to your own passions, to your own wants, to the me-centered life. But there are these moments when the fun is gone and the partying is gone and the cars are gone and the bank account is just sitting there and you're laying in your bed at night and you think to yourself, is this it? This room is filled with people who have had those moments. You are not alone. This room is filled with people who have had those moments where we were enslaved to our sin, enslaved to our passions. But God broke through our resistance. And he took out this heart that hated him, and he gave us affections for him. And we bowed the knee and said, I'm not going to be a slave to sin anymore. I want to be a slave to you, Jesus, because you bring real life and real hope and real peace and real purpose. And maybe today is your day to leave that old life behind and trust Jesus Christ to be the leader and forgiver of your life. You don't have to say a very specific prayer. God knows your heart. You can say very simple words to him. Like, God, I'm so sick of living for myself. I'm so sick of the emptiness. I've been buying this whole thing for way too long, and I realize it's just a cheap substitute. Would you come into my life and forgive me? Make me new. I trust, Jesus, that your death on the cross is enough to forgive me. I'm sorry for the way that I've lived for myself. Change me. Make me yours. My hope is that if you're in that place today, that you would pray that prayer, and I or any of our staff members would love to talk to you about it. And for those of you in the room who are believers, we really need to do some self-assessment as to how we're adorning the gospel. Does the way that we live, whether in circumstances we can control or circumstances that we cannot control, does it adorn the gospel? Does it make the Godward life look like the good life? Or are we just selling the same thing that the world is selling? See, where the culture pushes fake authenticity, you have the opportunity to walk in true identity given to you by being made a son or daughter of Jesus Christ. Where the world pushes lonely autonomy, you can walk in absolute security that he who started a good work in you will bring it to completion. And that this life is not the end. There is eternity beyond this life. And so it ought to put a little bit of a different word in your mouth, an attitude in your heart, where culture pushes selfish ambition, you walk in eternal purpose. Knowing that you're not going to waste your life by trying to build some tiny little kingdom for yourself that will eventually crumble, but will allow the rhythm of your life to be swept up in eternal purposes. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a doulos of the king. And so it leaves us with this question daily. How do I live my life today? Particularly in circumstances which are out of my control, to make the gospel look breathtakingly beautiful to those around me. To adorn the gospel, to make the God life truly look like the good life. My prayer is that you would ask yourself that question this week and prayerfully go before the Lord and ask him for the strength to live out the good life. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning and we know that these things are not possible in our own strength, but they're only possible by your spirit living in us. And every day we have an opportunity to submit ourselves to the work of your spirit in our lives, or to wrestle back control and do what we want. And so my simple prayer today is that we would adorn the gospel as individuals and as a church by daily submitting to your word and to the power of your spirit in our lives. Would you make it so that the world may know and see that the God life is indeed the good life? We ask all in Jesus' name. Amen.