Sunday, August 18, 2019, Evident Grace Fellowship looked at Titus 2.11-14:

 

Titus 2.11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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.

 

From those verses, we pursued this Big Idea and these three points:

 

Big Idea: Lies We Believe About Worship

 

I’m lacking something before God

I’m lacking something before the world

I’m lacking something in worship

 

I’m lacking something before God

 

Titus 2: 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

 

The grace of God through the work of Jesus Christ has appeared. We are saved from the condemnation of our sin, and now that grace is available to everyone. God’s grace can reach any gender, any race, any political party, and any sexual orientation.

 

That is what we celebrate in our worship. We have everything we need to worship. 1 Corinthians 1 promises us that we have every good gift from God. We have everything we need from Him to worship and to proclaim this great grace.

 

We do that primarily in our services through the preaching of the word. When the word is preached unfaithfully, two things happen: we are either deceived or protected. When the word is preached faithfully, we are either transformed or hardened. We endeavor to be as faithful as possible. God has equipped us to honor Him in our worship, and we are equipped with everything we need to do so.

 

I’m lacking something before the world

 

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

 

Worship trains us. As we worship, we become more and more like Jesus Christ. We are taught to renounce any sin in our lives. We walk away from worldly passions. We become self-controlled and upright, and we do it in this present age. That means we do it publicly.

 

Our worship of God enables us to publicly proclaim Jesus Christ. Our worship should propel us to publicly speak of Jesus. We aren’t lacking to do this because our worship trains us. At EG, if we need discipleship, your elders are happy to either provide it or enable it.

 

I’m lacking something in worship

 

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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.

 

Look at all of these verbs. I love it. We wait for Jesus Christ. He will appear. He gave Himself for us. He redeemed us. He purifies us. And we are zealous for good works. Our lives are the bookends of waiting and be zealous to obey. We are enabled through all the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.

 

So we return to 1 Corinthians mentioned earlier. We are lacking no good thing through Jesus. We are enabled to worship and serve because of all that He has done.

I Corinthians 1. 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Big Idea: Lies We Believe About Worship

 

I’m lacking something before God

I’m lacking something before the world

I’m lacking something in worship

 

 

Truth: Biblical worship is the celebration of Christ’s work, the present and ongoing transformation of the Christian, and the lifting up of God above all things.

 

Application: Live knowing that when the focus and goal of your worship is the glory of God, you will be encouraged and transformed.

 

Action: Since comparison is the thief of joy, ask God today to transform your comparing and wandering heart into a thankful and hopeful heart.