THE ATTITUDE OF GRACE (Titus 2 11-15)
Grace infiltrates the very fabric of our lives, transforming us into the image of Christ. “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” I was lost once, in the grocery store. Alone, scared, just the toy section and me. I was fine for a while but once I realized that my mom was nowhere to be found a deep-rooted fear penetrated my heart and mind and I began to panic. When I found her, three aisles away, I regained composure, wiped the sweet from my brow, and asked for a new toy. In all seriousness, I’ve never been blind. Can you imagine what it would feel like to live in darkness? Can you picture what living in total darkness one minute and then being able to see the next would do to someone? Floods of emotion, good and bad, would be overwhelming. With time sight would bring more clarity, understanding, and a sense of reality that wasn’t available before. That’s what grace does. God’s grace revealed through Christ transforms us from the inside out. Every thought, deed, motivation, impulse, response, action, and reaction are weighed differently. Everything is filtered through the magnificent love of God that says we are worth more to him than the life of his son! This love fills us so much that we can’t help but express it in everything we do. Grace gives us sight. In Titus 2 we find Paul urging Titus to challenge people to live out the Grace transformed life. Paul knows that there are many people and circumstances that seek to rob them from the power of grace. This is why he challenges the followers of Christ to step up and protect one another by living a life of Godly character and teaching the Word of God. Living and teaching about God’s way is what the Grace transformed life does.
THE CHALLENGE (Titus 2:1)
Teaching is a primary means to share the truths of God. Teaching can be formal and informal. In life it tends to be informal more often. We teach simply by living our lives. Our character and the way we interact with the world reveal what we think and feel about God’s word and what it is doing to us.
What are you teaching others about
God through the way you live?
Titus 2 addresses three things. How men, women, and (in our context) employees live out the grace of God. The context by which they live out the grace of God is in relationship with others. Lets look at what Titus has to say about each.
MEN (Titus 2:2,6-8)
WOMEN (Titus 2:3-5)
EMPLOYEES (Titus 2:9-10)
These characteristics are only a few of the characteristics that we find in the life filled with God’s grace.
Are these characteristics prevalent in your life?
The influence that we have on others is critical to their understanding of God. Our ability to teach and learn truth hinges on godly character.
Walk With Others
The Christian life is about relationship. This is what I would call the Church. We have a relationship with God and others. Titus 2 implies that people know the word of God and are living and teaching it through relationships. If you feel that Christ’s character is not evident in your life or you are just not sure what to do; turn to God, pray, seek his face, and desire for him fill you with his love and Grace. If you need help with that please contact me by following this contact link CLICK HERE. Allow me to privilege of walking with you through your discovery of God’s Grace. So how do we cultivate relationships that are impacted by the Grace of God? Here are three things that we can intentionally do to ensure we are working out what it means to be living and teaching through God grace.
3 Callings of God
1. Build Deep Friendship
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV
Building deep friendships that are centered in Christ protects and inspires us to be more like Christ. It’s great to have conversations about sports, hobbies, family, and politics, but the bond can’t come from the peripheral things. The depth of the friendship must come from a common passion for Christ.
2.Seek out Mentor Relationships
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 NIV
The single most powerful environment for discipleship to take place is in a mentoring relationship. We all need mentors and need to be mentors. God has entrusted us with the privilege of helping others to grow in Christ. It is not an option, it is part of the character of Christ lived out through us.
3. Love your Family
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV
Loving your family means that you will provide for them. This means providing for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Our love for family should be modeled after God’s love for us. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13 4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up….1 Corinthians 13: 4-13 ESV
The Conversation
God desires for the world to know him. The most significant part we play in achieving this is by being a friend, a mentor, and loving our family. God empowers us to do this through Jesus Christ’s indwelling Spirit.
How can you build upon your friendships to make them more Christ centered?
Who in your life could or are you supporting, as they learn to surrender to the will of God?
What tangible ways can you love your family?
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