The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
Introduction: Practice, Profession, and the Prize
If you wanna be great at anything, what do you have to do? Well, you have to practice.
Practice makes perfect. Well, not exactly, but any professional athlete knows this.
How about the rest of us? School? Workplace? Well, the same principle applies.
In fact, Malcolm Gladwell wrote this wonderful book called Outliers. And in it he states, the best way to be world class in anything is to devote, hear me, 10,000 hours of intentional practice.
10,000 hours? That’s insane. That’s a lot of time.
Well, he breaks it down to the average 40-hour work week and then proposes using an additional 40 hours of learning and development. His point is that we can both use our work week and our time outside of work to set these essential goals.
And what are they? Well, most notably, the application of constant learning. It’s developing skills. It’s applying them.
Let’s say you are deliberate with 40 hours of your work week and also focused on 40 hours outside of the work week. Now you can hit that 10,000 hour mark in just 2.4 years. That’s pretty amazing.
Okay, pastor, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What does this have to do with the text?
Well, consider the importance of practicing the profession of your faith.
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Why? For he is faithful that promised.”
What is this profession? It’s that the Lord Jesus, the Savior, the King, He has forgiven us of all of our sin. It’s a trust that God is faithful to keep His promises. So let’s hold fast to Christ.
But how do we practice what we profess? It’s pretty simple. What we believe corresponds to what we do. Now, of course, no one does this perfectly, but that doesn’t mean we stop practicing.
We stay focused on the prize, which is Christ. He is the great treasure of our souls.
But pastor, I’m so tired. I keep failing at my practice routine. I set a schedule and a regimen, but I can never keep it. Sin, it keeps calling me. The world is just inundating me with all these messages. And the devil, yeah, he’s trying to deceive me all the time.
The reality is that our practice is only perfect in Christ. It will be consummated on that great and glorious day when he calls us home, when he returns in the clouds with power and great glory.
But if we keep practicing without first knowing and being transformed by the truth, it will undoubtedly prove to be empty and useless. This is why people get bogged down with religion, because it’s all about doing, all the while forgetting what has been done.
Last week we talked about this great salvation that was accomplished for us. This salvation that has implications in the past, the present, and the future. Salvation is of the Lord.
It’s the beautiful song:
What He’s Done.
What He’s Done.
All the glory and the honor to the Son.
My sins are forgiven.
My future is heaven.
I praise God for what He’s done.
You see the connection between what God has done and then what we are to do. It flows from worship, flows from gratitude. It springs from our confidence in Christ, not ourselves. It’s not begrudging obedience. It’s joyful obedience. That’s a work of the Spirit. All by the extraordinary grace of God.
All glory and honor to the Son. My sins are forgiven. My future is heaven.
But good works? No thanks. Sounds like we’re returning to the obligations of religion.
No, no, no, no. That’s not it at all.
I want you to focus your attention on this. Write it down if you’re taking notes:
Good works are the supernatural result of the Christian life that’s focused on God’s gracious work.
So four things that we’re going to see from the text as we finish the letter to Titus.
The first is that these good works reflect the transforming work of God in salvation.
Secondly, and a little more negatively, divisive works reflect, well, they evidence the destructive work of self. Here comes self again. Watch out in judgment.
Third, good works, what do they reveal? They reveal the fruitful work of the Spirit in love.
And lastly, we have to remember all of good works are built on the foundation of God’s grace that enables us to do any of them.
1) Good Works Reflect the Transforming Work of God in Salvation (Verse 8)
So we’ll look at the first: good works reflect the transforming work of God in salvation.
And this we read in Titus chapter 3, starting in verse 8. We read together.
“The saying,” what saying? I just told you in the prior verses, Paul tells Titus all of this wonderful work of salvation. “The saying is trustworthy. I want you, Titus, to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to do what? To devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for all people.”
Did you notice that word “insist,” he says? Insistence, speaking of this unwavering state of the mind.
There are many examples that you can probably think of. It’s the sales guy that knocks on your door trying to sell solar, pest control, or home remodeling. All of the sales guys fall into one of these three buckets.
He stands there in the cold telling you, hey, your neighbors are all buying what I have to offer. I’m not sure why you don’t want it. He gives all the reasons that you need his company and the tragic result if you do not purchase today.
For the kids in the room, you know what it’s like when your parents insist that you do the dishes. You know what it’s like when your parents insist that you clean your room and eat healthy.
In your mind, you’re thinking, but really, why is that so important to do? I’m 10 years old. I think I have a pretty good grasp on life.
And on and on.
And so insistence certainly can be either positive or negative.
But what about when it comes to insisting on the things concerning salvation? Pastor, I’m not sure what you mean.
Well, Paul makes it clear to Titus that if there’s anything, anything at all that we need to speak confidently about, it’s what God has done for us.
Why is that the most important thing? Consider what happens when we don’t do this. It’s pretty easy for all of us to fall into this trap. What is it?
Instead of careful attention to what God has done, we are consumed with what we must do.
Oh no, I’m not fulfilling my Christian duties to the Lord’s satisfaction. I need to do more. I will never do enough. Is God pleased with me?
In fact, Pastor, I heard you talk about those 10,000 hours for success. My heart was crushed.
But I thought then, oh yes, I’m going to do it. I’m going to set aside 40 hours a week and work for the Lord. I have all these ideas. Pastor, I’m going to volunteer at the Women’s Pregnancy Center. I’m going to foster a child. I’m going to mentor a young believer.
Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Let’s not get too carried away. These are all great things to do. Far be it from me to dissuade you from doing any of it.
But there’s a difference between good works carried out by self and the good works accomplished in God’s power.
It’s a common theme with many believers, especially those who work in full-time ministry. What happens? They burn out. They think that they just need to do more works to prove to God that they really love Him. And they end up doing good works that were never part of God’s plan.
Instead of operating in the power of the Spirit, they push it all through the strength of the self. It leads to bitterness, man. It leads to resentment. And finally, you just give it all up.
In fact, there’s a study in 2022 that 40% of pastors had a high risk of burnout. It was a 400% increase from 2015.
Now, of course, there’s many factors. I think it could all probably, you could reduce it down into one reality: it’s people pleasing.
You see good works, pleasing people above pleasing God.
See, good works evidence the good work of God in salvation. These good works are joyful. They’re not easy, but the works of obedience, for example, consider raising your children in the Lord, loving your wife as Christ loves the church, loving your neighbor, working hard at your job as unto the Lord.
You know, we like to think of good works that are so grandiose, so broad in scope. But I would want to submit to you that many of these good works are simple works. They’re daily works, regular work, work that just seems rather mundane.
Pastor, I’m a little disappointed here.
But how powerful it is for the world to look on to your life and see a loving family, a joyful spirit, a lover of hospitality. These things reflect what the Lord has done in our lives.
No greater love is this than to lay down your life to serve, to sacrifice, to give of yourself. Why? Because it’s what the Lord did for us, demonstrating his great love. It’s his love working in our hearts that leads us to the good works that flow from our lives.
These are the works that are reserved for the believers. In other words, for those who have embraced the person and work of Christ according to the Scriptures.
It’s these works that testify to his work of saving a people for his own possession.
This is how we credit what God has done for us by showing all these wonderful good works.
Believer, give careful attention, consideration, to the works that God is calling you to.
But if you’re not yet a believer, the first work is this: believe in the one to whom he sent.
Well, pastor, I’m not ready. I don’t think I believe yet. That’s okay. Keep walking, keep asking, keep seeking. The Lord is faithful. He will surely do it.
What he’s done.
What he’s done.
All glory and honor to the Son.
My sins are forgiven.
My future is heaven.
I praise God for what he’s done.
Let that be the song of your heart reflecting on all the Lord has done in the person and work of Christ.
This is a glorious work. It’s a wonderful work.
Paul clearly tells Titus, this is a message for the church. Be thoughtful about this. Give attention to this. Meditate on this.
But God doesn’t need our good works. Remember Martin Luther said it? He doesn’t need your good works.
Who does need it? Your neighbor needs it.
It’s a message to an unbelieving world that Christians are different. They’re known for their good works. They’re noble. They’re upright. They exist for the advantage and blessing of others.
We do care about people.
1 Timothy 5:10 says this, “having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up her children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”
It’s the reputation of the widow, the powerful witness to the unbelieving world.
That she knows that her good works are displayed in her home. That her children love the Lord. That her neighbors know, man, I could go anytime I want over to that house. She’s got an open door. She brings in those that are in need.
Good works reflect the transforming work of God in salvation.
2) Divisive Works Evidence the Destructive Work of Self in Judgment (Verses 9–11)
Secondly, divisive works evidence the destructive work of self in judgment. Happy thought there.
So here we go. The word of God, equal opportunity offender, verse 9:
“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. Why? Why? Well, they’re unprofitable. They’re worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once, then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
Merry Christmas to you.
Paul clearly does a great job to contrast the good works with the evil works. I mean, how do we know what’s good if we don’t know what’s bad?
And again, it goes back to what I’ve said before, the difference between a life focused on God and a life focused on self. There isn’t much more that’s damaging to the body of Christ than a believer who’s gone the way of a fool.
Oh, pastor. That’s not very nice.
Well, Paul gives us some examples here, and you might be wondering, hey, when was the last time there was a church split over genealogies? That’s a great point, but understand that we’re talking about fables. We’re talking about empty debates. We’re saying where the Bible is silent, we might want to be silent too.
It’s okay to make speculations. All of Scripture is not all equally clear. But it’s important that we have charitable discussions about these things.
But when we make a speculative doctrine a primary doctrine, we’ve talked about this before, something changes in the heart of that person who’s elevated something secondary to primary. The believer now takes the opportunity to find out who does not believe exactly as they do. They got to convert everybody. They got to get everybody on their team. And of course, that person is right and everyone must agree with him.
Do you see how self tries to work his way in to be preeminent, to be the highest judge, to know all the mysteries? You see how self tries to remove Christ from his proper rule and authority.
A brother who used to attend our church several years ago used to make it his regular practice to leave his love notes in the offering box. And these were quite lengthy, I would say, handwritten, cursive, rather difficult to read.
He was careful to point out every deviation of my understanding of Scripture that he certainly disagreed. He was continuing to point out the faults and share his opinion quite clearly.
I thanked him for his diligence. I thanked him for critically listening, for examining everything I said. But I also suggested that he’d speak in person rather than the endless writings.
However, he did not listen.
And what I found is that most who are engaged in the constant debate, I’m not saying it’s bad to engage in debate and talk. It says foolish controversies. No, it doesn’t say any debates, but… I found that those who are the most engaged in this ongoing, endless debate are the same people whose lives tend toward being disordered.
Rather than focusing on what is profitable, on the mission, on the gospel, on going out into the world, they feel the need to be disordered, looking within the church and holding up their fists ready for a fight.
They see everyone is either for them or against them. Are you loyal to me? Are you with me or are you with him? The more people that I have on my side, they say, the better I feel about myself.
What is that? That is self-love. Self in judgment, destructive work. It’s not the way of Christ and his love.
Self-willed believers are a real and present danger to the health of the church. They make the will of self, maybe they don’t know, maybe they do, but they make the will of self pretty high.
And that corruption of self has so blinded their eyes, they’re not able to see the damage that they have done.
Again, notice, I’m not saying that debates are bad. It’s foolish debates that are troublesome. It’s the empty, useless, unprofitable talk that leads to what? Ungodliness. Instead of always, it’s always being right.
In fact, James says this in chapter 4, verse 1. He says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Huh. Isn’t it something in your members that’s waging war? Yes, your passions.”
You know, the word passion always had a negative sense in the biblical framework. We use it now as I’m passionate. You don’t want to be passionate in this way. This is where desires, passions rule. And the battle rages.
And these very passions in the flesh, this desire to be autonomous. Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me what to believe. I got all the answers. And on and on.
Got to put to death that desire of the flesh. Put it down, crucify, lay down our rights and privileges looking unto Jesus.
See, what happens is we get into all these commandments of men. That’s what we’re seeing here. Making these rules and laws and imposing them on others rather than the law of the Lord is the delight of my soul. I meditate on it day and night.
If another believer disagrees with you on something secondary, somehow they become the enemy. It’s a sad reality all too common in the church, and really it’s this unbridled tongue. It’s quick to speak, slow to listen.
So what does Paul tell us about this kind of believer? He says, well, they are corrupted. They are functioning as if without faith.
These are certainly people who refuse counsel. In fact, they oppose it. No one can tell me otherwise. I know what’s right.
Even after you sit down for a lengthy discussion, you bring other believers along. Say, hey, man, we love you. Don’t you hear? Don’t you hear what we’re all saying together?
Oh, no. I don’t hear it. I need to spend time with the Lord on my own.
But they refuse. What they have done is pronounced judgment on themselves.
But the good news is that God is slow to anger. He’s abounding in steadfast love. Somehow he endures with us, even as believers, in our rebellious spirit that we can sometimes have. He lovingly corrects us. It may take some time, but the Lord is faithful to bring us up and mature us in Christ.
So what do we do with this kind of person in this Merry Christmas-styled message?
Well, they come into church with all kinds of passions and zeal. They have all these great ideas, and at first you think, man, that’s great. This person really wants to serve in the life of the church.
Then you start seeing their behavior. They start saying things like, man, I wish you did ministry a little differently. So they start pointing to other churches. They say, we need to be more like them. I think they know what they’re doing, and maybe you guys don’t really know that well.
And then it starts getting personal. If we don’t like them, if we don’t do it like they say, well, we just aren’t biblical.
Coming back to the prior question, what do we do with this person?
Well, Paul says that we warn them once. Go ahead, tell them. But if they still don’t listen, warn them again. Hey, man, you’re off. Error. If they still don’t listen, we should have nothing to do with them.
Wait a minute, Pastor, this is Christmas time. I mean, I just, I think you really should have re-evaluated the timing. I know the verse by verse, book by book, but this was not really appropriate. I thought the church was supposed to love everybody, accept everybody.
Well, most of us are familiar with the term tolerance. It used to be a positive word, long suffer, tolerate, love others in the strength of the Lord. But what about when it comes to habitual, ongoing sin?
Well, that’s the point. There’s a difference between tolerating a brother who’s a little annoying and tolerating a brother who sows discord and division within the church.
You know, Matthew 18 is the classic example of church discipline. It follows the same pattern. Someone sins against you. You go tell them. Say, hey, man, you messed up. Loving way. Then they don’t listen. Bring along another. They still don’t listen. Bring them up to the church. Bring them up. Come on. Here’s the platform. If they still don’t listen, we send them out. Send them out of the church.
And the goal with that all is for restoration and repentance.
This is good for our soul to know that you’re in a church that’s going to protect you from yourself.
Now, is this context here always talking about excommunication? It may or may not be. The scholars have disagreed on that, but at the very least, the encouragement is clear: distance yourself from that person who is divisive, who is in error, who’s causing division.
Warn them, love them, show them, bring others. But if they keep doing it, just say, sorry, I just need to distance myself from you.
Because bad company corrupts good morals. Have nothing to do with a person given to this, given to rage. You’ll be corrupted. You’ll be tempted into the same sin. It’s not worth it.
And most importantly, we know that the Lord will deal with them. It’s not our job to change people, but it’s our job to entrust them to a faithful Savior who will do the work that only he can do.
You will know them by his fruits. You will see how easily angered they are, how quickly they attack you for abandoning them. How dare you distance yourself from me?
Sometimes the most loving thing to do is to remove them from your life. And maybe one day they will come back and say, I’m sorry, I was wrong. In my immaturity, I didn’t realize how much damage I have been doing.
As I said before, the primary task of every member in the church is to pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There isn’t much more that is a threat to the kingdom of darkness than a church that is united on purpose and mission.
Imagine how much good the church could do in reaching the lost when all of us were together as one. Imagine the power.
But many, many churches are faced with this internal battle of division and discord and fighting and quarrels. Instead of the bond of peace, that’s what we got to pray.
I don’t care if we’re united or we’re working through something or things are going really well. Put that one on top of your prayer list.
Again, it’s okay to engage in charitable debate over secondary matters. Please don’t elevate them to primacy.
I’m reminded of a story that I just read about a churchgoer. And man, this guy, this couple, a long time ago, over 100 years ago, he was enraptured by the seven trumpets of Revelation. And he had to study and understand and know and… tell everybody about the seven trumpets.
Have you heard about the seven trumpets? Do you know about the seven trumpets?
The man was totally taken by it.
And then another member of the church walked up to him and said a simple thing. He said, how about you focus on your seven children rather than the seven trumpets?
The man, he couldn’t believe it. How dare you say such a thing? Who do you think you are? I’m a man of God. I’m studying the word.
But it’s true, we sacrifice loving our own children, spouse for the sake of doctrine that is not primary.
The reality is that there are lost souls all around us without hope, without a purpose, all around us. Consider all the challenges of young people, all the brokenness in families.
And yet here we are, duking it out. No, I’m right. You’re wrong. I’m right. You’re wrong. What’s the point?
Spurgeon said, “a life of godliness is better than a full understanding of all mysteries.”
Paul said the same thing, the apostle. He said, we can know all the mysteries, have all the knowledge, have a faith. Get this, we can move a mountain. But if we don’t have love, then we’re nothing.
I mean, it’s a heavy statement.
You’re telling me, Pastor, I can memorize all the Bible. I can attend church every week. I can visit the poor, visit the orphans. But it doesn’t matter one bit if I don’t have love.
Yeah, that’s right. It’s biblical love here we’re talking about.
Our days are much better spent doing good rather than disputing over unimportant matters. And so we must ask, am I promoting knowledge or Christian love? Because knowledge, you know, it puffs up and love builds up.
But sadly, the divisive person is corrupted and sinful.
So lovingly warn them. But if they don’t listen after being told twice, you’ve got to avoid them. Because divisive works evidence the destructive work of self in judgment.
3) Good Works Reveal the Fruitful Work of the Spirit in Love (Verses 12–14)
Third, the good works reveal the fruitful work of the Spirit and love.
And we’re going to read verses 12 to 14. Try to turn the mood up a little bit here.
“When I sent Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis. For I’ve decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way. See that they lack nothing, and let our people learn to devote themselves, there it is again, to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.”
Here’s what I love about the Apostle Paul.
He tells Titus, man, before you tell the people of God to do the good things, you better demonstrate it yourself.
Notice, hey Titus, I want you to come to me. I need your good works. I’ve been through a lot, Paul said. I need encouragement, man. It’s hard.
Not only that, he tells him to take care of his good friends, Zenas and Apollos. He says, make sure to meet all their needs.
The body of Christ is not just individual churches planting flags, taking their territory, and then competing with everybody else. It’s looking out for your brothers and sisters. It may even be of a different faith tradition in the church.
In fact, some commentators think that Paul might have sent Tychicus to be a successor to Titus. That’s right, Paul was thinking about healthy church leaders who multiply. Titus was not bearing the full weight of the leadership load. He needed some help.
And what better person than Tychicus, who was a faithful minister of the gospel. He was Paul’s friend and companion.
So it was by Titus’ example of taking care of the needs of others in the church that the others might learn to do the same.
It’s a fruitful work because it’s what the Spirit does in and through us in love.
I could stand up here and say, guys, good works. Do it. But if you don’t love people, you don’t care about lost people or your brother or sister in the Lord, it’s going to be really tough.
I’ve been reading this book called Dear Timothy. It’s a collection of short letters from experienced pastors over 480 years of combined ministry. They write these short little letters to this young pastor just starting out.
In one particular chapter, a pastor writes to him. He says, Dear Timothy, the role of a pastor is a really hard job. We trust that God appoints men to this role, but there’s one thing that is necessary for any successful ministry.
He says, you got to love the people.
Because you can grind it out for years of service. You can do a great job as a professional. You can have the most polished sermons, careful explanations of all matters of doctrine, but the people will see right through it if you do not love them.
They will see you as distant, unapproachable, easily distracted.
He says, don’t let it happen to you, dear Timothy.
In fact, John Piper wrote the book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Such an important reminder for pastors.
Pastoring is more than a profession. It’s a calling. It’s a life. It’s serving without needing to be recognized. It’s acknowledging, man, I’ve sinned. Look at that. Amazing. And then asking for forgiveness.
Surely the love for Christ’s bride, his church, flows from the heart, from the love that has been poured out into our hearts by the Spirit.
You know, that love for Jesus can sometimes grow cold. Anybody? Anybody?
But the Lord Jesus, he’s also the one to rekindle it.
It’s rekindled by this reminder. I’ve said this a few times, what he’s done, you know, repetition helps here. What he’s done, what he’s done, all the glory and honor to the Son. My sins are forgiven. My future is heaven. I praise God for what he’s done.
Something happens when we consider what he’s done. It rekindles something for our love for him.
It’s not a special secret. Here is hidden knowledge. If you know this, this will be the answer.
There’s no formula or special practice. You know, pastor, you need 10,000 hours before you can master the ministry. Careful.
It’s born in the fruitful work of the Spirit and love.
What are these fruitful works?
What about the works that aren’t so fruitful? Consider Mark 4, verse 19. Familiar verse, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the desire for other things, they enter in. And what do they do? Choke out the word, and it proves unfruitful.
I think we can all agree that it’s very easy to be overwhelmed by the cares of this world. Am I alone here?
It’s all the financial pressures, the health issues, the relationship struggles. The list is endless.
And sometimes we can get before the Lord with our prayer list and be more anxious when we’re done than when we started. Seems insurmountable.
And we’re left forgetting what God’s word says. We’re left forgetting what the Lord says: I will take care of you.
In fact, it’s when Jesus teaches us how to pray. He says, you should pray like this: Give us this day our daily bread.
Don’t worry about what you need tomorrow. Tomorrow’s got another whole set of problems. Let’s just focus right here. It’s grace for today. It’s Lord, help me to love my spouse and my kids today. Help me to walk with you, to look to you, to trust you.
These are hard things. But they can be even harder when the worldliness comes in to distract us from pursuing God. The riches, the concerns, the great danger that chokes the word from bearing fruit.
It’s what I said earlier, quoting from James 4, verse 1. What is the source of quarrels among you? Is it not the passions that are waging war in your members?
Give up this fight here. Don’t surrender to the cares of the world and the desire for other things.
Trust the Lord that his grace is enough for today. His strength is made perfect in weakness.
We can all admit that we are weak. We need the Lord to fill us up. We need the filling of his Spirit to overflow our hearts for every fruitful work that he wants to do through us.
It’s his love thrown through us. It’s his Spirit’s power. It’s what we come to in saying, Lord, I need you. I need you every hour.
The Lord by no means will reject us and say, I’m too busy.
He’s not going to say to you, man, you need to be stronger. You need to hold it together. You need to try harder.
No, we need to trust more and we need to come as his dear children, looking for spiritual food in a dry and weary land.
See, the Lord has sovereignly designed our lives to be difficult, to have trials and temptations at every turn.
Why? To show us we need him.
God never tempts us, of course. He’s not the author of evil. He doesn’t willfully seek our harm. He gives us every good gift that flows down from the Father of lights.
But he desires that we come to him. That we realize, man, there’s a besetting sin. There’s an evil in the world. There’s a problem. I can’t do it.
And so you will face hardship and difficulty and trial to show you that you need the Lord.
So come to Jesus.
You weary this Christmas season? Anybody tired? Anybody have melting credit cards in their fireplace?
Are you just hoping things will get better? Or are you trusting your soul to a faithful Savior who will never let you go?
Remember the good works reveal the fruitful work of the Spirit and love.
4) God’s Grace Enables Us to Do All Good Works for Him (Verse 15)
And lastly, God’s grace enables us to do all good works for him.
That’s verse 15 as we close.
Love how Paul closes the letter.
Now, does he admonish the church with the law? Does he say, okay, dear Christian, do as I say? Do good works. You better love your neighbor. You better love your spouse. You better love your kids. I’m coming after you.
No, no, no, no, no.
He closes with the very fountainhead from which all works flow. And that is grace. Grace.
Oh, pastor, all you talk about is grace. You know, I need some law in my life. I don’t know about you.
Well, dearly beloved, I would have to disagree with you.
But if all you talk about is grace, then people won’t take God seriously in their lives.
Again, I disagree. Grace is the foundation. Grace can never be overemphasized.
Paul Kooistra was a seminary and mission leader. He was accused of preaching about too much grace. Can you believe it? His response was very telling. He said, there’s nothing else to preach.
His listeners roared in retaliation.
Oh, but you better preach on duty, on relationship, on character. There’s so many topics, pastor, that you could bring to bear on my soul so I can be a better Christian.
But you see, what does it matter if what I tell you to do is not rooted in the abundant riches of God’s grace?
I’m not saying the law doesn’t have a place, but it has a place in its proper place from grace.
What does it matter if I tell you to be a better husband? Man, if you just love your wife more, things would work out. What’s wrong with you? Fill in the blank.
What if I tell you to do that, but you don’t know the sweetness of the Savior who’s purchased you? Where’s your love going to flow from? Emotion? Strength? Self?
No, no. I can’t do it. Maybe you can. I can’t love my wife in the strength of my flesh. I can do it in the Spirit. And I desire to do it.
What does it matter if I tell you to be a better employee if you don’t know the finished work of Christ on your behalf?
Notice the final greetings. It’s those who love us in the faith.
Oh, the sweet love rooted in the faith that was once delivered to the saints. This is the bond of fellowship of Christians.
We have the love of God poured out into our hearts. We have a faith that was once given to us, that was given to us as a gift by a gracious God.
I could go on and on, but if we don’t know that it’s God’s grace that enables us to do these good things, then we’re going to be in this constant struggle of creating works to prove to God that, yeah, I love you because, you know, here’s my resume. I’m doing things. I’m active. I’ve just got to fill it.
And the more I do, you know, God, you love me because of that, right?
The Lord says, but no, it’s not about that as much as it is your heart.
Remember the discussion? Do you love me?
Yes, Lord, you know I love you.
But do you love me?
Yes, Lord, you know I love me.
But do you love me?
Now do what? Feed my sheep.
Encourage the people of God to keep going, to keep looking to Christ. Keep trusting in the faithfulness of the Savior who began the good work in you. He will surely bring it to completion.
Don’t walk around anxious. Did I miss a good work? Oh, Lord, you wanted me to share the gospel. That was a ripe opportunity. I missed it. I’ve disappointed you again, Lord. I can’t believe it. Lord, you wanted me to visit the widow, the orphan. I didn’t do it.
Trust in his grace that he’s going to work all things together for his good.
You walk with him as you look to him. Whatever season of life that you’re in, you keep trusting the Lord.
The grace of God, as he says, is with us all. It may not feel like it on certain days. Lord, it seems like darkness is over me today. Somehow your grace is with me. I’m not sure how that works.
No, God richly gives us grace. He keeps on giving his grace. He gives grace in sickness. He gives grace in misunderstanding. He gives grace in all things that we might know the riches of his love for us. How deep, how wide, how high, how long.
God’s grace. Grace, grace. God’s grace. Grace to pardon and to cleanse within.
You need some cleansing grace today? I do.
Because each day is a reminder as I lie on my bed confessing my sin for that day. Try not to stay there too long.
Confess to the Savior, I didn’t love my wife very well today. I didn’t love my kids very well. I got frustrated. I allowed my will to oppose God’s will.
Remember, good works are the supernatural work of the result of the Christian life that’s focused on God’s gracious work. That’s the only way.
The gospel has power, has power to save, and has power to sanctify. It’s fantastic news, an incredible gift, the most incredible that we’ll ever know.
And one day, one day, the work will come to a close. We’ll be done. Thank you, Lord. It’ll finally be time. We’re going home. Thank you, Lord.
Every tear will be wiped away. Every sorrow a forgotten byword. It’s going to be perfect joy.
Let that hope purify you as he alone is pure.
Sadly, we’re marred by sin and corruption that remains, but there’s a purpose in it all. We haven’t arrived yet. There’s still work to be done.
So let the faithful Savior do the work in and through you by his Spirit that you might have rest for your soul, that you might have hope in the life everlasting.
So as we close, I want to ask that you would allow grace to ready you for every good work. Let that grace be the fountainhead of all joy and wonder. Let grace teach you. Let grace keep you.
Stay close to the Savior. He will never let you go.
Good works will flow from you quite naturally as you’re looking to Christ. It’ll just happen. You’ll be like, whoa, what was that? I didn’t realize how the Lord just did that. Whoa, I was just looking to him. I didn’t do it. You saw something. I missed that.
Let his love continually be poured out into our hearts by the Spirit. It’s a love that never lets us go.
We will fall. We will sin. We will disappoint others, and others will disappoint us. But that doesn’t change the reality of who we are in Christ. Washed, clean, purchased, made new.
Application: Meditate on Grace, Then Watch the Works Flow
So, in application, take some time. Meditate on that.
I mean, you look at that and go, Pastor, what kind of application is that? don’t see what i have to do here meditate upon god’s amazing good you’re not i’m not tracking with you this this is the fountainhead right here the fountainhead for all the good works set on that first don’t just go running out into the streets serving the poor feeding the homeless look at me stay time there first and then just watch the works flow they flow right out
You know, it’s great here. Chapter 16 of the Confession, the Baptist Confession from 1689, does a great job taking some Scripture, throwing some meat down for us to chew up here.
And he says this in paragraph 4, the Confession of the Baptist Confession:
“Those who attain, notice this, to the greatest heights,” that’s what I’m talking about, “going the greatest heights of obedience possible in this life, are far from being able to merit reward.”
Do you see that? That sounds strange.
I mean, all the operations of my flesh to do all the good works, they are far from meriting a reward?
Yeah, because you’re going beyond the duty. You see that?
You ever go beyond the duty of what God has called you to do? You think, I got to do this, I got to do that. And if you start getting frustrated and burned out and anxious, you’re going beyond the duty. You’re doing more than God requires. You see?
Instead, what happens is they fall short of much that is their duty to do.
You do everything… This is where you missed it. Hey, you’re out there doing all the ministry, but your kids, your wife, they need you.
So don’t be overwhelmed by trying to do more and being guilty of not doing what God wants. Never required of you.
Rest in that because we fall short. He knows that. God’s grace is greater.
Closing Prayer
Let’s take a moment now. Let’s go before the Lord. We confess. We say, Lord, I got some things that are a little out of place in my thinking. I need your help. I need your help to cast my concerns before you.
It could be the cares of this world. They’re just choking you out. You’re so focused on the relationship problem that you just, I can’t fix it. And then you’re letting the word just be set to the side.
Whatever it is, whatever the struggle, we go to Jesus now. We confess our sin. We say, Lord, you know. And we receive assurance of salvation because of Christ, because of what he’s done, because we can praise God for what he’s done.
So let’s take a moment now and then I’ll close in prayer.
Oh Lord, we confess when we hear the phrase good works, our hearts fall. We become discouraged. We become guilty. We become ashamed.
But that’s not what you’re asking of us, Lord. Not asking us to search and find and do and struggle and be anxious to do more and do more and work harder.
You want us to rest and you want us to just simply trust and obey so that your Spirit will work in and through us and we won’t even notice it’ll just be a natural thing.
I do pray that that we would have a right focus on the Savior to keep our eyes fixed upon you, Jesus, the author, the finisher of our faith, the one who laid down his life for the sheep, the one who gave up of himself every comfort, every joy, every pleasure.
He took our sin. He nailed it to the cross. Cursed is the man that hangs on a tree, and you were the cursed one. And then you died. And just before that, you said it’s finished.
It’s a great encouragement to our soul. The finished work of Christ on our behalf. Forgiven, washed, cleansed, made new.
This is the God we serve.
Let the works flow like a river. Let them pour out through us. Because it’s your Spirit’s work. It’s not our work. It’s the Lord Jesus. And that’s our desire. That’s our prayer.
Help us, Lord, by your grace to keep looking to you. Know that, Jesus, you paid it all. And now we desire to owe it all to you.
Let it be so. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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