New Sermon Series: Grace Unto Godliness

In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is a weary, broken man who, through no fault of his own, is going to be declared bankrupt. He stands on the town bridge, about to commit suicide. But then his guardian angel intervenes. The angel gives him a vision of what life would have been like if he’d never lived. He sees that his life counts, that it has made a difference. He has truly lived a good life – a wonderful life – touching the lives of many people in small but decisive ways.

Deep down, we all want to live a life that counts, a life of significance and eternal purpose. That is what Paul is aiming at in his letter to Titus. He is giving Titus, and all of us who read it today, a vision of the good life: a life that touches people in small but decisive ways, a life that has eternal consequences.

It is a life grounded in the grace of God. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us…to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age" (Titus 2:11ff). The book of Titus is about how the grace of God revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ transforms us into lovers of godliness, who bring Him glory in all of life.

Living the life of godliness that flows from God’s grace is hard to do in a culture that defines the good life in many other ways. How do we, as God’s people, live as Christians in a dishonest, harsh, selfish culture? How can we survive without adopting those attitudes? How do we live a gospel-changed life in a society that seeks change and finds truth in many places, but so rarely in the gospel?

Paul’s letter to Titus addresses these sorts of questions because, the culture of Crete (where Paul’s letter was originally read and applied) was not all that different from the culture we live in today. As Tim Chester writes,

“The overriding passion of the first-century believers was to be church in a way that kept the gospel central for life, growth and mission. Reading Titus in our time will inspire and equip us to make sure our lives and churches do the same.”

Beginning on September 28th, we’ll spend fourteen weeks exploring Paul’s letter to Titus, with the heartfelt prayer that the gospel of God’s grace would produce in us a life of godliness to the end that God would be glorified everywhere we go and in all that we do.