Formed and reFormed in the Kingdom of God
How many of you are members of a gym or health-club?
How many actually go?
Men’s Health Stat on actual attendance
Story – Joining Bally’s in
- Overwhelmed
- Basement with free-weight’s was like something out of Dante’s Inferno
- Asked what my goals were
- Given a basic workout plan
- Set loose to go change my life / body
Oddly, the fit people stay fit.
The chubby people stay chubby.
I often see the same people on the same machines doing the same exercises with roughly the same weight.
? What’s the goal of joining a gym?
- To get in shape
- To change body fat into buff-ness
- Peanut butter cups into pecks
- A jelly rolls into a six-pack
Are people in the gym changing?
Too often, the answer is “No”
Don’t worry; today I’m not going to be giving you workout advice. I do, however, want to address the subject of how we change.
Getting our bodies in shape and getting our souls in shape are very similar to each other.
We need to:
- set goals,
- dedicate ourselves to a TRAINING PROGRAM
- & see real change
Even Paul makes that connection in 1 Timothy 4:7-8
Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. - 1 Timothy 4:7-8
So my question
- If the church is like a gym, and if the goal is to train ourselves in godliness
- If the grace of God is our personal trainer, as it says in Titus 2:12
- Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions
- Training to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives
- How are we doing?
1. Two Appearances of Jesus
The text today is based around two appearances of Jesus.
One in GRACE and one in GLORY.
Jesus Showed Up With Grace (v.11)
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” – Titus 2:11
Jesus Will Show Up In Glory (v.13)
“…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” - Titus 2:13
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Jesus Showed Up With Grace (v.11)
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” – Titus 2:11
When Jesus was born, we finally saw the grace of God.
One of the Most Important Ways Jesus Revealed This Grace Was By Establishing His Kingdom.
The first sermons Jesus preached were short and basic.
“Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the
The “
God’s kingdom is not a place
It is “the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God” (Ladd)
Remember when we prayed “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?
- That prayer is a prayer about the
Right now, in the throne room of heaven, everything is different than it is on earth.
“God’s holiness and glory are displayed so overwhelmingly that all creatures honor Him with unqualified, voluntary service.” – Richard Pratt
- Our lives are marked by this … and it wasn’t like this when Jesus first came
- Our lives are filled with rebellion and frustration
- More of then than not, we do our own thing, and even when we get it right things still don’t feel exactly as they should be.
The constant prayer of people in the Old Testament were for God’s kingdom to come so that this frustration could end.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” - 1 Chronicles 16:31
God chose a lengthy historical process to close this gap
- God chose Abraham and told him to follow
- Then God pulled
- After that God called
- He took
- They formed a kingdom and built a
- Exile
- Return
- Roman invasion & occupation
- Jesus “the
In his life Jesus lived the life we should have lived,
then died the death we should have died.
By doing this, he showed us real grace … the grace of God to forgive sinners.
Paul talks about this “appearance of Grace” again in the book of Titus in Chapter 3:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. - Titus 3:4-7
Illustration – Two Circles
Kingdom of the World vs.
In Jesus, they begin to overlap
When Jesus showed up in GRACE, the two circles touched
That’s the first appearance of Jesus. In Jesus’ ministry, the
Jesus Will Show Up In Glory (v.13)
“…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” - Titus 2:13
The end of the story will be that Jesus will return in Glory.
This verse is talking about the Second Coming.
Usually when we talk about the 2nd Coming, our minds immediately go to Judgment.
- I’m glad there will be judgment
- … never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” - Romans 12:19
- God will avenge the abused wife
- God will avenge those who take advantage of children
- God will avenge those who get rich on the broken backs of to poor
- So many wrongs need to be made right
- We don’t serve the sort of God who turns a blind eye to all this … He will avenge
But Paul reminds us that the best part of the Second Coming isn’t the fact that we will see Justice … the best part is that we will see Jesus.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. - 1 John 3:2
ILLUSTRATION OF TWO CIRLCES
At the second coming, they overlap … eclipse
2. Two-Age View of History
This two-circle way of looking at the world can be helpful.
Tension between the “Already” and the “Not-Yet”
3. Our Life Today
Remember how all this started?
Back in the gym with the GRACE OF GOD as your personal trainer.
The goal isn’t to “understand” the
The goal is to change … to be Formed and Reformed by this
#1 We Must Be Born Again By Grace Into The Kingdom
v.14 – Words purposely imported from Passover
…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. - Titus 2:14
- Gave Up Self For Us
- Redeem
- People of his own possession
Sinai Covenant // The Cross of Christ (Gospel)
#2 We Are Learning to Say “Yes” and “No”
NIV of v.12
It (grace) teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, - Titus 2:12
Renounce / Say No to ungodliness and worldly passions
Biggest Looser
Jillian following you around as you go through Costco
- Ice cream
- Samples
- Pies
- Chips
Say “YES”
- We shouldn’t define ourselves by what we reject.
- We should also be defined by what we embrace
Yes to Self-Control
Yes to Upright Lives
Yes to Godly Lives
#3 We Are Waiting While Changing
While we wait, looking back at the cross and forward to the 2nd coming … we don’t stay the same.
We are changing.
#4 We Can Be Passionate for Good Works
Grace does not depend on good works, but grace will necessarily lead to good works.
“Grace not only makes good works possible, it also makes them necessary.” – John R. W. Stott.
4. What Training Program Do You Need To Begin?
If you are not changing, you can’t know that you are saved. - Keller