Titus 2:11-15 Is your church accurately communicating the central message of the Bible?

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the eighth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson we’re going to look at chapter two and talk about the central message of the Bible.

As you know, the Bible is a big book. There are many facts, teachings, poems, songs, and commands. There is a lot of history in the Bible. Humans naturally want to know the point of all this.

There is a central message that permeates the whole Bible. That message is that man sinned. We deserve eternal punishment. God promised a Savior who would save us from that eternal punishment. Then He sent the Savior.

Titus contains a paragraph that summarizes the role Jesus plays in that central message and how that central message affects our daily life living in the 21st century. Once we understand that central message, then we need to ask if our churches are accurately communicating that central message.

Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.

Transcript:

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is the eighth lesson in a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson we’re going to look at chapter two and talk about the central message of the Bible. 

As you know, the Bible is a big book. There are many facts, teachings, poems, songs, and commands. There is a lot of history in the Bible. Humans naturally want to know the point of all this.

There is a central message that permeates the whole Bible. That message is that man sinned. We deserve eternal punishment. God promised a Savior who would save us from that eternal punishment. Then He sent the Savior. 

Titus contains a paragraph that summarizes the role Jesus plays in that central message and how that central message affects our daily life living in the 21st century. Once we understand that central message, then we need to ask if our churches are accurately communicating that central message.

Let's start in Genesis chapter two. In the beginning God created the universe and everything in it. He created Adam and Eve. He gave Adam and Eve a simple command which we see in chapter two starting at verse 15. 

Gen. 2:15   Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As you know, they ate from that tree and brought sin into the world. One of the consequences of eating from that tree was now all humans are born sinners and deserve eternal punishment. 

Over the next 1,500 years the human race multiplied on the earth. Notice what God said about humans in Genesis six verse five.

Gen. 6:5   Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

God saw that every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. In other words, humans were inherently sinful and evil. Shortly after this, God used a flood to destroy all mankind except for Noah and his family. 

After the flood, Noah and his descendants began the process of repopulating the earth. About 500 years after Noah, God made some promises to Abram. Notice the long-term nature of these promises in Genesis 12 starting at verse one.

Gen. 12:1    Now the LORD said to Abram, 

“Go forth from your country, 

And from your relatives 

And from your father’s house, 

To the land which I will show you;

2 And I will make you a great nation, 

And I will bless you, 

And make your name great; 

And so you shall be a blessing;

3 And I will bless those who bless you, 

And the one who curses you I will curse. 

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Notice this last promise. “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” That promise was also given to Abram’s grandson Jacob. Let’s read about that in Genesis 28 starting in verse 10.

Gen. 28:10   Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 

In the last sentence we see a repeat of this promise. In Jacob and his descendants “shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

I'm not quite sure how Abraham and Jacob understood this promise, but we know in hindsight that eventually one of their descendants was Jesus. He provided salvation. He provided a way of escape from the eternal punishment that we all deserve. In that way He blessed all the families of the earth. Since Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and Jacob, that was how this promise here in Genesis was fulfilled. 

The descendants of Jacob became the Israelites. God gave them the Mosaic law around 1500 BC. Around 1000 BC they became a kingdom. They were very sinful. They were exiled around 600 BC. Around 0 AD God took on human form and came to earth as a man named Jesus. After a brief ministry in the mid 30s AD, Jesus was crucified and buried, but then He arose from the dead. Through that He provides a way of salvation so we have a way of escaping the eternal punishment that we deserve. 

After Jesus went back to heaven the early church produced the books of the New Testament. One of them is the book of Titus. Let's go to Titus and take a look at a paragraph that summarizes how Jesus fits into this overall story of the Bible. 

Just as a reminder, in Titus chapter one Paul told Titus to appoint elders in every city in Crete and then Paul listed the qualification for elders. In chapter two Paul told Titus to speak what is fitting for sound teaching and then Paul had instructions for elderly men, elderly women, young women, young men, and slaves. Then we read the following starting in verse 11. 

Titus 2:11  For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us that having denied ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live wisely, justly, and godly in the present age, 13 waiting for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us so that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and cleanse to Himself a special people zealous for good works. 15 Speak these things, exhort, and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Let's think about where this paragraph is in the book. It comes in the book of Titus after this list of commands that Titus was supposed to teach, the commands that were given to elderly men, elderly women, young women, young men, and slaves. In this paragraph in verses 11 through 15 Paul summarized why we're supposed to follow these commands, how Jesus fits into this overall story of the Bible, and what all of this means for you and me living in the 21st century. Let’s go through this paragraph a sentence at a time. 

Titus 2:11  For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all men,

Jesus is the One who brought salvation to all men. When He came, when He was revealed, that was the grace of God being revealed. 

In verse 12 we are instructed to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Instead of that, we should live wisely, justly, and godly in the present age. That is how this affects us. This is how we should live as Christians, as servants of Jesus Christ. 

As we are living our lives as Christians, living wisely and justly, we are waiting. 

Titus 2:13 waiting for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Jesus Christ is coming back again someday. We’re waiting for that. We're looking forward to that. 

Verse 14 is a reminder of what Jesus did for us. He gave Himself for us. He redeemed us. We are a special people and should be zealous for good works. It's not just that we need to do good works. We should be zealous for good works. 

In the very beginning Adam and Eve brought sin into the world. As a result of that, all humans are sinful. We deserve eternal punishment. However, God promised Abram and Jacob that one of their descendants would bless all the peoples of the earth. That descendant was Jesus. He provides salvation to all men. Thus, we have a way of escaping the eternal punishment that we deserve. 

We need to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. We need to live wisely, justly, and godly as we are waiting for Jesus to come back. We need to live our lives as a special people and be zealous for good works. That's the overall message in the Bible. 

Is your church accurately communicating this? If so, how? I don't mean just the salvation part. Is your church also accurately communicating the idea of living wisely, justly, and godly? Is your church accurately communicating the part about looking forward to his appearing? Is your church accurately communicating the part about being zealous for good works? If so, how are they doing this? 

If your church is not communicating all this, may I suggest you consider finding another church? This is the overall message of the Bible. This is what we need to teach and communicate to all people.

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Scripture quotations from Titus taken from a translation by Bible Mountain.

“All other Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)