WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.280 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:29.199 Paul, a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness and hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, and the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching which I have entrusted by the command of God our Savior to Titus, my true child in a common faith. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:34.079 Grace and peace from God and Father of Jesus or of Christ Jesus, our Savior. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.280 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:36.560 Please be seated. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.920 Hey Bo, can I have that Bible? 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:40.799 Thanks, man. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:46.399 Bo was notified that he would be reading today's scripture about 30 seconds before he read today's scripture. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.880 So, Bo, thank you for rising to the occasion. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:53.359 It is appreciated. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:56.799 Welcome to church this morning. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.320 My name's James Rathman. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.799 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:05.519 Thankful to be able to gather with you all this Sunday morning. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.400 Another Sabbath day came along just in time. 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:17.120 So let's pray and then we'll begin our new series to uh which will which we'll be closing out the summer, which is a series in Titus. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:18.719 So let's pray. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.640 Holy Father, we praise you for your loving kindness. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:27.040 We thank you that you are a mighty fortress. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.640 We thank you that your perfect love casts out fear. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:37.599 Father, we pray that you would shape our hearts to trust in you deeply. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:44.959 Lord, that we might take confidence in the work that you have accomplished, in your present reign and rule over all things. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:48.799 Lord, that nothing happens outside of your providence. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.640 And Lord, we know that you are good. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:56.079 We praise you for this, Lord. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:00.719 We ask that you would give us faith to hold this in our hearts. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:02.400 And we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.280 Amen. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.240 So our summer of plagues is over. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:10.400 I know. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:12.400 It was a good one. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.719 If we had really made it through the whole summer, I think our momentum would have just kept building. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.000 We would all get matching tattoos. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:21.280 It said summer of plagues. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.599 So we are now out of Exodus. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:32.240 We paused just before the uh Exodus itself takes place and before the Passover. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:36.960 So we'll be picking that up in the after the first of the year. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:50.159 And after this series, in Titus, we'll be uh returning to Mark, which we've been preaching through for about the past, this will be our fifth year as we continue through Mark in the fall. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:03:08.879 But uh, in between this little gap here at the end of the summer, in between Exodus and our return to Mark, we are visiting a shorter of Paul's letters, one of the pastoral epistles, which is Paul's letter to Titus, which is um perfectly suited for this time because I think to preach through Titus will take about seven weeks. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.960 That was kind of a joke, but it didn't. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.280 That's not that's not the the only reason why it's suited for us. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:23.199 It's uh it there's this uh wonderful practicality to Paul's letter to Titus. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:35.039 And I think that the mission that Paul is sending Titus on is extremely relevant for us to grasp. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:44.400 Paul is sending Titus to the churches, he's actually leaving him at the uh the churches on the island of Crete. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:55.280 And Crete is an island that was known for its uh laziness, thievery, lying, stealing, cheating. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.759 It is a place of deep corruption. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.759 And this is the type of place where you would think a church isn't gonna work here. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:11.840 These are people who are known for tearing one another apart. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.680 How is it that a church could form in a place like this? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:19.680 And it is to that place that Paul decides to send Titus. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:25.759 And I'll explain a bit about who Titus is, and we'll see that that is a great idea on Paul's part. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:37.199 But I think that we want to recognize just the particular relevance of studying and understanding what is it that holds Christian communities together? 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:46.399 Because it's not just what holds Christian communities together, when we learn that, we're also learning what is it that holds any body of people together? 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:50.480 How is it that any group of people can be united? 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:56.959 Yesterday, when Trump was shot in the ear, that is an incredibly thin margin. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.519 And we know that what are God's works of providence? 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:11.600 God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:18.720 So that means that that margin took place within the providence of God. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.360 We should consider this a wonderful sparing. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:34.079 Because I do not think that our nation has the strength of collective character to be able to handle the assassination of Donald Trump at this moment. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.959 And I think that the margins of our society being able to be held together are incredibly slim. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:44.399 Uh terrify terrifyingly slim. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:52.480 I remember thinking uh we had just we had just planted our church and it in in this building. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.199 Our church plant story, good luck piecing that together. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:01.839 But we had just uh started our church in this um building and we shut down for COVID one week later. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.839 And then we moved into and that was in March. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:12.399 This was I think 150 years ago, if my math serves me correctly. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:31.519 And we started in we started in March, and there was a um uh we'd closed down uh meeting in the church just one week after our first meeting here, and uh my wife and I lived right downtown, and and it was a very hot summer, sort of like this summer. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:37.439 And uh when you live downtown, you can feel the temperature in the culture around you. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.199 It's very it's very present. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.000 Like when it's hot out, it gets hot out. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.519 And there's arguments and fighting and violence really increased in our neighborhood. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:50.720 And this was during the Black Lives Matter riots. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:55.759 And I remember sitting in my bed at night, and the there's just news helicopters. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:59.120 This is not a unique story, you were all there, like many of you were there. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:02.160 Some folks of you that I met just moved here two weeks ago. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:04.240 So this is for you. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:30.480 Um, and I remember I remember thinking, this is um uh the response that's taking place in our city right now, uh shows uh a level of mass deception that the more reasonable part of me would have said that would never happen here. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.800 And I remember thinking something has deeply shifted. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:54.959 And that there is a there is an operation uh and a destructive pattern of a level of mass deception uh that I that is um that made me very afraid. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:17.600 So what do you do with that sort of what do you do with that sort of fear uh for for where we are and for our nation and for um I think by by by any assessment uh I think we'd say this is the type of thing that can't hold together. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.120 There's no possibility for a holding together here. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.560 So we need to learn. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:36.159 Here's the the analogy that I that I want to make for as we turn to Titus. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.559 Titus, the church in Crete couldn't hold together. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.039 Titus was also sent to the church in Corinth. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.600 That was a group of people that couldn't hold together. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:09:08.480 Titus's first experience being a Christian was at the Jerusalem Council, where in its earliest moments, the Jews and the Gentiles, this is a group of people that cannot hold together, cannot be held together. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:15.360 By the nature of what they are, they must fracture and tear one another apart. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:24.720 And the gospel held these people together in all of those circumstances. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:32.720 The gospel is the means by which a group of people can be held together. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:41.519 It is the means by which a group of people can be held together. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:57.279 And so I think we are in a circumstance where here's the here's the um, I want you to write off your fleshly assessment. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:09.120 I want you to disregard the fear of what your basic intuition would tell you about the state of our nation. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:16.559 And I want you to consider God is the one who holds things together. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.639 And we ought to seek him to do that. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.080 We ought to learn how to do that as a church because it is not ordinary that things hold together. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:37.840 Titus was a Gentile, and he was converted under the preaching of Paul. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.399 And uh during Paul's first missionary journey with Barnabas. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:11:02.720 And so Paul he's converted under the preaching of Paul, and as a Gentile, the Gentiles faced a extreme opposition from these factions within the young Christian church, from the circumcision party, uh, who are also called the Judaizers. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:23.919 Now, this was a group of Jewish converts to Christianity who said that the that Titus needs to be, that Gentile Christians need to be circumcised and they need to uphold all of the uh cultic practices that were required under the old covenant in order to be included in the new church. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:30.960 And so Titus hears the preaching of the word under Paul and becomes a Christian. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:46.159 He believes that Christ died for him, and that the sins that he had committed in his life were atoned for, and that he has now been included in the people of God by faith alone because of what Christ has done. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:59.360 But because of his Gentile status, he is immediately thrown into this controversial, controversial position within the church, as the church is figuring out who is a part of the church and who is not a part of the church. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:16.320 And so one of his first experiences in Christianity is being one of the men who goes with Paul to a church council which is held at in Jerusalem, the church in Jerusalem, which was like the megachurch of the day, you know, as the most Christians were here. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:28.480 So they hold this church council, and for three days they argue back and forth, and the Judaizers make their case, and they say, people like Titus should not be included in the people of God. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:41.840 And then Peter makes a more profound case, saying, The Holy Spirit has fallen on them just like it has fallen on us, and you are heaping upon them the codes of the old covenant, which we could not be saved by. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:46.240 And our only hope we realize is now in Christ alone. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:51.440 And James, who is sort of overseeing the whole thing, he says, Peter's right. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.960 So Peter gets the gets the gets the answer. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:03.120 The church comes together and they say, Gentiles are included just like we are included by faith alone, in Christ alone. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:07.440 And so Titus must have felt this tension of the church. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:15.039 It literally, you know, we say this now because we're all like pseudotherapists. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.120 Because we've all we've all we all know this stuff now. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.519 But he he must have felt this in his body. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:26.080 You know, that's a way of saying that you know how people feel things now, as you say you feel it in your body. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:34.960 But the um because he's he this was about his circumcision. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:37.679 And he wasn't. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:46.639 So he experiences this tension and he says, I am going to hold fast to what I had just heard Paul teach me. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:51.120 That I'm saved by Christ alone. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:14:04.399 And then he saw the church come to blows over this, this deep cultural divide, impossible to imagine being reconciled in any fleshly way. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:26.639 And by the grace of Jesus and understanding that it is the grace of Jesus alone, the church is united, and Titus, bearing this tension in his early faith, is welcomed in who he is as a Gentile fully into the people of God. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.399 So this is Titus's first experience as a Christian. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:45.759 Titus then becomes one of the key people for Paul, and he is the man that Paul chooses to send to Corinth, the church in Corinth. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:53.519 Now, if you've read Corinthians, you you know that uh this was a messed up church. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:15:04.159 This is one of those churches that I think lesser a lesser man would show up at and say, this is not a church. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.879 These people are not Christians. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:14.320 We the look at the sin that is taking place and is being encouraged and celebrated within this congregation. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:20.960 This is worse than the sin that's taking place in in groups of Gentiles. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:26.960 Non-believers wouldn't tolerate this type of thing that they are tolerating here at the church in Corinth. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.679 So they're in their arguing amongst one another. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:35.759 They're saying, Yeah, you like Paul, uh, but he's a he's a weak apostle. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.039 I like Apollos. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:38.480 That's my type of apostle. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:48.720 And they were arguing, it's just these intramural sports of Christianity, of arguing amongst themselves of who's who's the better teacher here. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.559 And so the church itself is tearing itself apart. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:58.159 So the man that you send there, this is gonna have to be a wise guy. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:06.080 He's going to have to be someone who can bear the tension of the church. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:14.720 And the tension of the church is the tension of how can a people like this possibly hold together? 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.240 And so Titus goes there and he overcomes their evil with love. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:37.120 And he is able, after his time there and the presentation and teaching through likely Paul's letter, he's able to give a glowing report to Paul of their repentance. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:51.840 And of the church in Corinth, experiencing unity around their growth and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:02.720 It takes a special person who can bear that type of tension, the tension that the church requires to be born on its behalf. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.039 There are two ways that we like to get rid of the tension of a people trying to hold together. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:14.319 One way is uh we act with we act rigidly. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:27.200 And this is often described as um doctrinal seriousness, but it's not doctrinal seriousness. 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:34.720 It's just saying that these folks that are weak in faith, I have no patience for and I need to get them away from me. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:37.039 That's not doctrinal seriousness. 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:46.559 It feels like it, because they're probably being weak in faith about things that are silly and foolish. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:54.880 But doctrinal seriousness says our faith is not given to us in equal measure. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.079 That the church is full of people with strong faith. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.519 And the church is full of people with weak faith. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:10.319 And we do not get to sacrifice the weak in order to quell the insecurities of the strong. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:14.240 So rigidly is not the appropriate way that a church could be managed. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.039 That would just tear the church in half. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:23.680 There's another way to resolve the tension of a church, and that's to say we have no standards. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:28.640 There can anybody really know what sound doctrine is? 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.960 That's the way that sentence is finished. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:42.640 And then if nobody can really know what sound doctrine is, then uh there's really nothing that could divide us. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.960 So, whatever it is you think, uh of course, you just be a part of us. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:59.839 We're we're here, we did, we've we've been running these ads, and one of the um uh like sort of like built-in taglines for the ads was you belong here. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.240 Like you could click that and say you belong here. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:04.559 And I went to Zach and I was like, we gotta change that. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:12.799 Because maybe maybe you belong here. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:14.160 We haven't even met. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:26.559 Because the so we we changed it to like like join us, you know, for a service. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:39.200 Because the the uh to say just like broadly of the church, you belong here, is to say that there's nothing that the church holds that you could be excluded by, and that's not true. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.400 We we hold that Christ is Lord. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.839 If you do not hold that, you do not belong here. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:49.839 Because that's what holds us together. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.279 Christ and his sacrifice. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:10.400 And so someone, a wise person like Titus has this impossible task of going into these church environments that Paul has sent him into and bearing this tension. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:13.200 And what is this tension? 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.599 That the church is full of Christians that are weak. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:26.640 And our response to them needs to be patience, that we might grow them up in the knowledge of the Lord. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:36.640 And the church has people in it that are wicked, and that think they're a part of the church and ought not to be. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:45.759 And so those people need to be stood up against and removed, removed from the body of believers, because they are not among them. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.759 They do not belong here. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:57.680 This is the impossible type of task that someone like Titus is given in Corinth. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.759 So, so how wonderful of a man he must have been. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:29.519 You know, I I I love I love I love ministers who have labored for a long time in the church, and you hear their stories, and they uh they uh sound like First Corinthians, you know? 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:38.720 It's like this this is a crazy group of people, who would ever be with a pack of strays like that. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:51.680 And then you and then you hear their stories, and it's like, man, they bore this awful tension from within the church and have experienced incredible pains from within the church, from the wickedness of people done to them within the church. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:56.319 They've been crushed, but not destroyed. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:04.160 And so you hear their stories and it's like Well then what why would you love the church? 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:17.680 And it's because they realize that the absurdity of this group of people being held together shows us that Christ is the one who holds the church together. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:28.559 And so they've learned that if Christ can hold it together here, oh, he can hold it together anywhere. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:37.759 This is the way God often shows his strength and his ability to hold things together, especially his people. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:49.119 He doesn't show it by, it's not like we look at church history and we hold it up against the rest of history and we're like, see the glowing example. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.279 The rest of it, it's nothing like the rest of it. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:58.319 No, it's full of cowardice and betrayal and uh lack of unity. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:03.680 And yet, it keeps going. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.480 And it keeps going, and it's held together in love. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:18.400 And there's these strange groups of people that are meeting together that would have no reason to be held together, that have all these reasons to be held apart. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:20.559 Do you know what church friends are like? 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.160 Church friends? 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.000 They're weird, man. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:30.480 You wouldn't have you why why are these why is this group of people hanging out together? 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:36.559 And it starts to show you there's something else going on here. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:58.960 This story of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been effective to transform the hearts of these disparate people, and now they are brought together in a unity that cannot be explained in any fleshly terms, and therefore you ought not consider that it could be threatened by any fleshly means. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.680 And so we fear not for the church. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.319 So Titus is a good guy to send to Crete. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:21.279 And that's why he is left in Crete, because Crete is the type of place that is nearly impossible to do ministry in. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.400 They lack the character. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:27.519 They don't show up when they say they will. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.240 They lie and deceive. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.000 They're lazy and they're gluttonous. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:43.279 And Paul's thinking, who should I live to bring order to a who should I leave to minister at a place like this? 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:45.279 You know, I think Titus. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:51.119 Titus Titus gets what the church is. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.720 And so he'll be able to be patient with the weak. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:01.680 And he'll be able to stand up against those that need to be opposed. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:06.000 And so Paul writes him this letter of instruction. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.920 And Titus is successful in his ministry in Crete. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:22.400 This letter begins with an introduction, with a with a greeting. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:32.000 And so let's look through and we'll see Paul's greeting because it frames the whole letter of instruction that Titus is being left with. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.319 In Titus 1, 1 through 4. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:36.960 Well, actually, just verse 1. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:46.640 It says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect in their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:51.279 So Paul gives a standard identifier for himself, although it's slightly different. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:53.039 He says he's a servant of God. 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.920 Typically he says he's a servant of Jesus Christ. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:03.039 But this is, he's drawing on language that places him in that same category as an Old Testament prophet as he speaks. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.880 And so he's saying that what I'm saying is the very word of God to you. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.519 So Titus, receive it as such. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.119 And he describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:17.200 Now he can describe himself as such, because an apostle means one who is sent. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.519 And so he is one who is sent by Jesus Christ. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:32.319 That's because one time he was the type of man who you would think there is no fleshly means by which he could be a part of holding the church together. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:39.119 Because he was seeking to destroy by killing the members of the church. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:48.079 But Jesus Christ met him on a road one day and called him to his service and saved him. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:27:01.920 And by his saving of Paul, he rescues him from the kingdom of darkness, transfers him to the kingdom of light, and now Paul becomes the most successful missionary evangelist in world history. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:08.000 He is sent by Jesus Christ, the one who saves him. 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:09.839 Why? 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:16.960 Why is Paul, why does Paul have this identity as servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ? 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:19.680 Why does he live from this place of understanding of himself? 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:21.759 And why is he writing this letter? 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:28.880 It's for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:30.880 The sake of the faith of God's elect. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:41.599 You know, we look at a place like Crete, and we say, man, church isn't going to work there. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:54.160 Look at all these liars and thieves, gluttons, hippies and commies. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.319 This is not the type of place that a church can work in. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:08.160 Paul looks at a place like Crete and he says, the elect of God are there. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:13.440 The ones whom Christ died for live in Crete. 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:21.359 So I'm writing this letter for the sake of their faith. 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:26.960 The sake of the faith of these Cretans. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.119 Because he understands that the elect of God are there. 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:39.440 Do you see how a doctrine of election does not stunt our mission? 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:46.559 But rather it works as this constant correction when we are beginning to write people off. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.119 It inspired Paul. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:29:11.359 The faith of God's elect by which they might be saved, their knowledge of the truth, that these people in Crete might grow up in an understanding of the truth of God, that they might be able to see God's purposes for redemption laid out explicitly and plainly. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.519 This is why Paul is writing to Titus to instruct them in this. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:37.920 And this faith and truth accords with godliness, so that they might be able to live lives which look like godly lives, ways that God has called people to live together, that they might live in love for one another. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:42.000 So their faith and their knowledge work together with their godliness. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:51.279 This is no dead letter that Titus is meant to convey or that Paul is seeking to convey through Titus to the Cretans. 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:58.400 But this is something that when they hear and understand the grace of God in truth, it takes root and it multiplies. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:02.960 And so it actually manifests in their lives in godliness. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:06.880 These people will live godly lives. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:07.839 Why? 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.440 How could Paul trust that? 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:13.839 How could he even begin to imagine that this group of people would live godly lives? 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:30.079 Because he knows that they are the elect of God there, and that when they hear the truth of God, their hearts will be transformed, their desires will be transformed toward the good, and by a miracle, the miracle of our salvation, they can be saved. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.920 How could Paul trust that something like that for a group of people like the Cretans? 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:35.839 Because he knew his own story. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:53.680 You probably don't you write people off who could not be brought in as a part of the church, that unity could not be drawn out of this chaos because you forget your own story. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:01.839 You forget that that's what you are like, that you are as impossible to save as that person. 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:04.079 So what could help? 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:05.599 A miracle of God. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:12.079 He continues on in verse 2. 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:22.160 It accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before the ages began. 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:33.200 What is our what is the hope that would motivate Paul to this is he's writing this letter just after his second imprisonment under the Romans. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:38.559 And he gets out of prison and he's he's not like, I learned my lesson. 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:44.319 Better not go around preaching the gospel again. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:46.559 You'll see where that gets you. 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:50.079 No, he walks around and he's like, okay, glad I'm out of there. 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:52.720 Let's get back to doing exactly what got me in there. 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:59.920 How does he have that type of hope to spend his life in that way? 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:03.119 Because it's a hope of eternal life. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:06.799 This life can be spent toward that end. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.920 Because the life that it's aiming towards will never end. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:26.880 And so it's worth it to labor among these lazy gluttons and liars and thieves, because the hope is eternal life. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:33.839 Well, eternal life, that's quite a big promise. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:36.240 How could you trust a promise like that? 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:49.200 Which God, as if this needed saying, who never lies, promised before the ages began. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:57.039 This promise of eternal life for God's people is in the mind of God before Adam and Eve were created. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:02.000 He had imagined, I will, or whatever God does, imagined. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:03.599 You know, it's the best we can do. 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:23.519 He had imagined that there would that there was there would be a people for his own possession, and that they would dwell with him in eternal glory, enjoying the level of love and camaraderie that he has been eternally experiencing within the persons of the Trinity. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:37.039 So that they would be, in a sense, grafted in to the love of the Trinity because they would be called in Christ, the second person of the Trinity. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:41.759 And so they would have this hope of eternal life. 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:47.039 That was promised, and that is promised to the people of God. 00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:50.720 The hope of eternal life. 00:33:50.960 --> 00:34:00.720 Consider, if that is the hope that is at the end of the suffering which you are experiencing now in this life, does that make your suffering a bit more meaningful? 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:29.519 That it's not just it's not just wasted effort, it's not wasted moments in a fleeting life where you could have been gathering pleasure for yourself, and you could have finally concocted a world where you got all those toxic people out of your life, and then rested. 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:33.599 Because this is all there is, isn't it? 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:48.239 No, your labor in the Lord is not in vain, but it is towards a hope, a glorious hope of eternal life. 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:50.559 How can you hope in a thing like that? 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:52.400 God never lies. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:55.119 He's the one who promised. 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:08.400 Titus 1, 3. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:10.480 This is quite an intro. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:15.840 And at the proper time, so you why does he go there? 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:16.960 Because you can see it. 00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:25.599 He says, in hope, which God promised he never lies, in eternity past. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:27.920 So that's a long time ago. 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:29.760 That's one way to say it. 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:45.119 At the proper time, he manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:54.880 So in eternity past, God lays out this eternal decree that there would be a people that he rescues for his own possession. 00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.400 But do you know what that means to a thing like you? 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:00.719 Basically nothing. 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:04.960 You're not an eternal thing. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:12.800 Where can you go today to read this eternal decree that has been laid out in eternity past? 00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:20.559 You know, should you have, would you, if you started walking now and walked till the end of your life, will you almost get there? 00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:40.960 For us to know this, for us to share this hope, God would have to meet us and manifest this promise in time, at the proper time where you could hear it. 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:44.880 So it had to be manifested. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:37:03.519 God can eternally decree all he wants, but if he doesn't manifest it to you where you can hold it and hear it and trust it, and hear it, hear it at a proper time, then you are hopeless in the world. 00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:15.360 But God at the proper time manifests this promise of eternal life. 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:27.760 He manifests it in the person of Christ as God takes on flesh, becomes incarnate in time and space, at the fullness of time, for the highest revelation of who God is. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:29.360 He reveals himself to us. 00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:37.599 And then how is it that we come, people like you and I, come to understand this promise of God? 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:39.360 Look at what Paul says. 00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:46.719 He manifested this eternal life, he manifested in his word through the preaching. 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:51.360 You just hear it proclaimed. 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:59.039 You hear the word of God proclaimed and you believe it. 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:12.960 Then your heart is transformed, and you trust that you look at what Paul was writing for in the beginning, that the faith of the elect, their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:15.679 Where does something like that come from? 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:17.679 By the preaching of the word. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:24.480 Then you hear it and believe it, and your heart is transformed, and you have eternal life. 00:38:24.719 --> 00:38:27.840 Now, that's a silly story. 00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:33.760 You just hear, you just hear this story. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:46.480 That's the means that God chose to manifest eternal life was just the proclamation of it. 00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:49.119 Paul knows what you mean. 00:38:49.280 --> 00:39:07.280 In 1 Corinthians 1 21, he says, For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:11.679 He says, This is foolishness. 00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:21.280 This will look like from it from any from any fleshly assessment, I'm saying I've got a story to tell you. 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:37.760 And the story is that you're a sinner estranged from God, but God became a man and he took the punishment for your sin and he resurrected, and now he is still a man, judging to this day, and he atoned for your sins, and if you put your faith in him, you will have eternal life in him. 00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:42.719 Now I say, if you just believe that, you have eternal life. 00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:46.000 By any fleshly assessment, this is foolishness. 00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:51.440 And Paul goes on and he says, he says, because the Jews demand a sign. 00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:55.199 They say, that's quite a claim. 00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:56.639 Could you prove it? 00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:01.119 Some sort of sign, then I'd believe. 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:03.360 And the Greeks they demand wisdom. 00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:05.119 That's quite an argument. 00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:10.000 Could you show me your premises and we can test them for validity and soundness? 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:16.320 If they pass my test, then perhaps I will submit to it. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:19.119 The Greeks seek wisdom. 00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:26.559 But God saw fit to grant to his church this means. 00:40:27.199 --> 00:40:28.800 We preach the word. 00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:36.800 Now God likes that means, because God likes to use his word to do just about everything. 00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:40.159 I don't know if you guys have seen creation lately. 00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:46.159 This was made by his word. 00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:57.599 So he empowers the word of his church to perform this most impossible of saving actions, to bring those who are dead in their sin to life. 00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:03.360 So we preach the word of God. 00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:13.519 And when the word of God is preached, all those whom Christ came to save hear it, and their hearts are transformed. 00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:19.360 And they trust in Christ as the only means of their salvation. 00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:25.119 They begin to understand the truth of the word, the true knowledge of God. 00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:41.039 Their lives begin to accord with godliness, and in places like Jerusalem, where the church almost tore itself apart right when it was beginning, they are able to hold together in love. 00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:52.480 And in places like Corinth, where they were sinning in ways that would have made the Gentiles blush, they are transformed and repentant and held together in love. 00:41:52.559 --> 00:42:03.920 In places like Crete, full of liars and lazy gluttons, the truth of God is effective, transforms their hearts, and they are able to hold together in love. 00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:08.159 They have something in common, a common faith. 00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:12.320 And this is why Paul, this is where Paul concludes what he describes to Titus. 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:16.159 He says, To Titus, my true child, in a common faith. 00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:23.360 There's something more real here than his own offspring. 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:25.199 He is a true child. 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:33.440 In a faith that they hold not just privately, but in common. 00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:35.760 You know what that is? 00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:38.079 That's that's they're a united people. 00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:51.360 Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. 00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:58.960 This is the context in which Titus is sent to do ministry in a very hard place that would tear itself apart. 00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:04.719 And just from the introduction, we say, you know, he's got pretty good reason to be hopeful. 00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:10.639 He's got pretty good reason to stick around in in Crete and bring this church into order. 00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:14.320 Because the word of God will be effective there. 00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:20.159 And it will transform the hearts of the hearers, and they will have a hope of eternal life. 00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:23.119 There's a church that should be there in Crete. 00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:25.280 Jesus died for it. 00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:30.239 Are there any questions today? 00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:33.199 That's awesome. 00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:59.760 In looking at this, part of my intention was to pry you out of the state of seeking to piece together. 00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:04.719 The strangeness of our world right now. 00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:14.480 And if you could just, you know, hear why the shooter did what he did yesterday. 00:44:14.719 --> 00:44:29.199 Then there would be this sort of like resolution and we'd be able to have a sense of getting our hands around what it is that's going on here, and we and then we'd be able to piece together maybe some path forward and some political strategy for our way out of here. 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:40.960 And I wanted to pry your eyes up and see that all of the wisdom of that world has been made foolish. 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:47.760 Because Christ has died and he's risen. 00:44:48.079 --> 00:44:53.119 And by the proclamation of his word, we can be saved. 00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:00.000 And that that will form a people for him that nothing can stand against. 00:45:02.559 --> 00:45:08.079 And so I will I hope that you have that sense of hope inspired in you. 00:45:11.119 --> 00:45:14.159 That comes from understanding that Christ is Lord. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:23.920 In 1 Corinthians 11, 23, which I need to do some finding real quick. 00:45:24.159 --> 00:45:26.239 Let's see if it's where I left it. 00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:36.400 Paul writes, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. 00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:40.960 And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. 00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:43.199 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:49.679 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:52.960 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:59.280 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:11.119 Our great proclamation is that Christ Jesus, on the night before he was betrayed, the night he was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it, and he said, This is my body which is broken for you. 00:46:11.519 --> 00:46:16.559 And he took the cup and he said, This is the new covenant in my blood. 00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:21.039 It is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:42.239 Come and partake of this heavenly feast, and you will find that all your means of self-salvation, all your thoughts of what could hold a people together, or what could finally get rid of those wicked people, you will find that they are nothing compared to the power of the blood of Jesus. 00:46:45.679 --> 00:46:51.840