Cultural Discipline.

Steve Gentry

[0:02] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open to Titus chapter 3 as we continue to make [0:07] our way through Titus. [0:10] Next week will be the end of the Titus series. [0:14] And then what’s coming up after that is we’re going to do a very short two-week study in [0:20] the book of Luke chapter 9. [0:22] We’re going to call that Sacrifice.

[0:24] We’re going to look at what does Jesus, not what does He require, because He fulfills [0:31] the requirements, but what life does He give to His followers? [0:36] What does life in Christ look like? [0:39] We constantly, sometimes in church, we constantly hear about sacrifice. [0:43] We hear that we need to live lives of sacrifice. [0:46] But what in the light of the gospel, what in knowing who Jesus is and what the cross

[0:53] has done and the fact that He has reconciled us to the Father through His work, through [0:59] His righteousness, through His resurrection, what does life in Him look like? [1:04] What kind of sacrifice does that entail? [1:07] And it’s going to be a tough two weeks. [1:09] I’m not going to candy coat it for you. [1:11] Jesus is doing the speaking in Luke 9 and He does not candy coat it for us.

[1:16] He calls us to what in this culture and in this society is going to look like a radical [1:22] and drastic life of sacrifice. [1:24] And then after that, in September, probably, I think it’s on September the 19th, we’re [1:29] going to start a series called Story, where sometimes you hear us talk about the arc of [1:35] Scripture and how the Scripture is one story, that it is not just simply 66 books and letters [1:41] that are divided up and are void of any type of connection with each other.

[1:47] I’m sounding really weird up here. [1:48] I don’t know if I am out there, but let’s work through this together. [1:52] Actually, it probably sounds perfectly normal out there and you didn’t know and now you’re [1:56] looking for it. [1:57] But what does this life in the Scriptures look like, where it goes from the creation [2:03] to sin to redemption and then finally to the story of how God is going to restore His creation

[2:11] back to a place where it brings Him glory and its perfection, because it’s a perfection [2:16] that He brings about. [2:17] We’re going to spend six weeks kind of just unpacking what the Scriptures are all about [2:22] and what story is Scripture actually telling. [2:26] And I think it’s going to be a really powerful series, mostly because it’s just going to [2:30] be coming straight from Scripture.

[2:32] We’re going to take a journey from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. [2:38] And it’s going to take us six weeks and it’s just going to be like I’m going to be shooting [2:41] you with a machine gun every week, because that’s a long journey to do in six weeks. [2:45] I don’t know about you, but it is for me. [2:47] But today we find ourselves in Titus chapter three. [2:50] And what’s interesting about Titus chapter three is what he does is he kind of places

[2:55] the next book end, where he starts by unpacking the story of redemption and how God is using [3:04] throughout history His sovereignty and His sovereign will to bring about His redemption [3:11] to His people. [3:12] And that He is redeeming for Himself a people who will bring Him glory and will worship [3:17] Him. [3:18] And history is actually headed towards what Revelation chapter seven unfolds, where we

[3:24] see every tribe, every tongue, and every nation gathered around the throne of God, [3:30] worshipping God in perfection and holiness and completely free. [3:34] And we’re actually seeing God face to face and bringing Him glory. [3:38] And that God is actually through the story of Scripture, we’re watching Him throughout [3:43] history, bring this redemption about and bring Revelation seven to a completion and to fruition. [3:52] And what we’re going to see today is that through that, He has redeemed for Himself

[3:58] a people and these people exist right now. [4:01] And it’s the church. [4:02] It’s those who are the followers of Jesus. [4:05] And inside of the church, what we see, Romans chapter eight says, is the first fruits of [4:11] the kingdom that He’s going to have in Revelation seven. [4:15] And that through the fruits of the Spirit and through the community that’s being formed

[4:20] and through the discipleship that takes place inside of community, what we see is what Revelation [4:27] seven and what the book of Revelation unfolds as His kingdom actually comes, is we get to [4:34] be a sign of that kingdom to the world around us. [4:39] That we get to actually begin to live a life of freedom in which we now have the ability [4:46] through the power of the Holy Spirit to be the people of God. [4:51] And we get to experience the power of God as we unite under the banner of the truth

[4:58] of the gospel. [5:00] That we don’t actually have to wait until we’re dead or until Christ returns to see [5:06] God move in powerful ways in the here and now. [5:10] That we can actually live lives together, connected through the gospel, where we see [5:17] the first fruits of the kingdom of God. [5:20] And this is something that most of us live our whole lives.

[5:24] And many of us have lived and we’ve journeyed and we’ve been in churches and we haven’t [5:30] actually come to a place where we can say, yes, I have seen that. [5:36] I have seen the first fruits of the kingdom. [5:38] So what we do is, is we begin to kind of atrophy and our endurance kind of slows and we become [5:46] disconnected because we’re not currently seeing the power of God. [5:51] But then we disconnect ourselves and lose all the ability to see the power of God.

[5:56] Because the power of God is only going to be manifest inside of the church.

[6:03] And in Titus chapter 3, what he does is, is he unravels when we live the life of discipleship. [6:11] When we are actually connected and committed inside of a missional community. [6:18] What is that going to do to us? [6:21] What kind of life is that going to bring about? [6:24] Is community, okay? [6:27] What we talked about last week when we talked about community discipleship.

[6:31] Is what takes place inside of the community? [6:34] What the discipleship looks like and the relationships that were formed and the fact that we have [6:39] life on life and that we have the freedom to actually know each other because we’re [6:43] reconciled with God and we’re also reconciled with each other. [6:47] Alright? [6:48] Is that an end of itself?

[6:52] When it takes place inside of the church, is that an end? [6:56] Does it go anywhere else or is that all that there is, is we have this one life long community [7:04] group where we gather with this group of individuals and we get really deep and we dig this long [7:09] well and then the five of us that are gathering, we just drink of that well and then we live [7:15] the rest of our lives just glorying in the fact that God has revealed himself to us [7:21] and we’re growing in scripture, we’re growing in knowledge or what Paul calls in Titus

[7:27] in chapter 2, sound doctrine and we’re growing in that and the effect that that has on us [7:32] is that we connect with each other and we begin to grow together. [7:36] What is the destination of that? [7:37] Does it go anywhere else?

[7:41] If it just stops and if it’s just this community that is kind of this self-centered and self-existent [7:52] community where it’s just the church that exists currently and Jesus and we’re just [7:58] back and forth together and we’re not really doing anything else, that is not discipleship.

[8:10] Some of you may even think that it is, but you’re wrong. [8:15] Why would I say that if I was going to say, oh yeah that’s right, let’s go home. [8:20] You know I preach way longer than that. [8:22] Go to Titus chapter 3.

[8:27] At the end of chapter 2, if you’ll remember, he was talking about the older teaching the [8:32] younger, those who know the gospel, teaching those who are new to the gospel and the kind [8:37] that that is going to bring about and then he ends it and he says, this is all happening [8:43] because the grace of God has appeared to you and because God is teaching you through his [8:49] grace. [8:50] Every gospel implication, discipleship is a gospel implication, must have a gospel

[8:56] declaration because it’s not so that you’ll earn the gospel that you do this, but because [9:01] the gospel is true and because Jesus has brought you to a place of completion in himself, [9:08] that’s how discipleship takes place. [9:10] It’s because of the grace of God and then he says at the end, declare these things, [9:14] exhort, rebuke with all authority, let no one disregard you.

[9:20] And then in chapter 3 he says, remind them.

[9:26] We have to understand that in discipleship, that discipleship is going to require reminders.

[9:37] I think this is probably one of the hardest things for us as a people of God because [9:42] in chapter 2 he puts his big emphasis on the fact that discipleship cannot take place unless [9:46] humility exists in you. [9:48] Unless God really drives humility into your heart, you can’t really have the gospel without [9:53] humility. [9:54] Because the gospel, what it does is it brings you to a place where you admit that you can’t

[9:58] help yourself, that you are full of sin and you need an outside force to come in and that [10:04] outside force is Jesus. [10:06] And so what he says is that in this life of discipleship, Titus is going to have to remind [10:12] and what he’s doing is he’s giving us this large umbrella where everything that he’s [10:16] talked about so far falls under this umbrella for Titus. [10:20] So what Titus is going to have to do is Titus has to go to the elders, constantly reminding

[10:25] the elders as Paul is coming to Titus, constantly reminding Titus as the other apostles are [10:32] constantly coming to Paul reminding him as the Holy Spirit is coming to the apostles [10:38] and constantly reminding them. [10:39] And then finally when the elders are reminded, then they go to the church and they remind [10:44] the church. [10:46] It’s this endless cycle where everyone has to constantly, time after time, be reminded

[10:54] of the same things over and over and over again.

[11:02] And we get sick of that. [11:05] I know I do.

[11:08] I have a lifelong obsession with not being reminded of anything.

[11:14] My wife, who luckily isn’t in this room, but I’m sure some will snitch, sin has this [11:23] effect in me where I have this problem with thinking that anyone in the world has authority [11:31] over me. [11:32] That’s what sin does to me. [11:34] Some of you it does something else, but for me, that’s it for me. [11:37] I struggle with submission.

[11:40] Alright. [11:42] So my wife will ask me to do something.

[11:45] And I’ll say, alright, yeah, sure, love you, I’ll do anything. [11:49] Anything to make you happy, babe. [11:52] But what wasn’t communicated between us was a timetable.

[11:59] There was no timetable communicating. [12:02] So when my wife is like, honey, will you do this, what she’s under her breath, not really [12:06] communicating verbally, but mentally, she’s trying to use telepathy here, which doesn’t [12:10] work very well, women. [12:11] Just so you know, we have like iron blocks on that stuff. [12:15] Alright, so you got to verbalize it or we’re just not going to know.

[12:18] We are not smart creatures, men. [12:21] Alright. [12:22] And some of the guys are like, oh, yeah, you’re not, you liar. [12:25] Alright. [12:26] And that’s probably someone that’s not married thinking that. [12:29] But what marriage does to a man is it informs you of how dumb you actually are.

[12:37] [12:37] It’s a very humbling experience. [12:39] But my wife, what she usually means is this minute.

[12:45] What I try to communicate back to her, but it’s blocked by that plate, that iron plate [12:50] that’s in my forehead, is probably sometime this year. [12:55] If not, maybe next. [12:57] Alright, so what tends to happen because of the sin in my life is, is that I forget. [13:05] Alright, I’m a very forgetful person. [13:07] So my wife will then have to come back and say, honey.

[13:16] And she’ll remind me. [13:18] And she’ll say, I asked you last week. [13:21] Alright! [13:23] Get off my back.

[13:26] We hate that. [13:28] We hate to be reminded. [13:30] Especially men. [13:32] Because we really do have this complex of no one will have authority over me. [13:39] I make my own way. [13:40] I am man.

[13:41] Hear me roar. [13:42] Alright, oh, I’m, just me? [13:45] Alright, oh, I’m uncomfortable now. [13:46] But, no, just kidding. [13:48] But, so what happens is, is whenever this reminder comes back and we’re told the same [13:54] thing too many times, something happens inside of us that begins to rebel against that reminder

[14:01] and say, who are you to tell me what to do?

[14:06] So what happens inside of the context of community is that what Paul is telling Titus, and one [14:13] of the reasons that he ends chapter 2 and he says, let no one disregard you, is because [14:20] he’s about to tell Titus that he has to do something that nobody’s really going to like.

[14:27] One of the things that I’ve heard from people that have been in the village and some that [14:31] have gone out of the village is that we constantly come back to the same things and we constantly [14:37] talk about the gospel. [14:39] And we constantly mention it and we constantly hash it. [14:42] And we’re always, always, always talking about the gospel. [14:48] Can we go on to something else?

[14:51] The answer to that is no. [14:53] Because there is nothing else.

[14:57] That’s all that there is, is the gospel. [15:00] The minute that we move past the gospel to something else is the minute that the power [15:07] of God has left. [15:08] Because the power of God is only found in his gospel because that is the central theme [15:15] of his scripture. [15:18] And discipleship requires these reminders because of how forgetful our sin makes us

[15:27] where the life in Christ is concerned. [15:30] So Paul tells Titus, remind them. [15:34] Do not let them forget the gospel because eventually we all come to a place where we [15:42] are living life and we’re doing the same routines and living a life under a scriptural [15:49] application and doing moral things and even serving in the church. [15:55] It almost becomes a second hand thing where we’re just going through the motions and

[16:00] eventually we forget why we’re doing it and what was a pure motive of the gospel being [16:08] lived out in our lives now becomes a life of moralism where we’re simply trying to [16:15] earn our keep, trying not to disappoint anyone and then eventually some of us get to a place [16:22] where we think that what we do in our service to God is actually what earns our acceptance [16:29] with God. [16:31] Because we forget the gospel.

[16:36] And what Paul is about to tell Titus is that he must constantly bring them back into the [16:44] gospel because if he does not then they will revert to a life apart from the gospel. [16:55] And even the very lifestyle that he is going to lay out for them in Titus chapter 3 will

[17:02] become idolatry to them. [17:08] He says, remind them because the grace has appeared. [17:14] This is why I love going through a whole book at a time because we really get the [17:18] whole picture.

[17:20] What he’s about to do is he’s going to say because the grace of God has appeared to [17:25] all men teaching them to renounce on God, because of the gospel, because God has chosen [17:31] us before the foundations of the world, because God has made us his own, because God is giving [17:37] us himself through the cross of Jesus to bridge the gap, to bring us reconciled to himself. [17:44] Because those things are true and we need to do nothing else, we have freedom now to [17:51] be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good

[17:59] work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy [18:07] towards all people.

[18:12] What I read there is not very complicated.

[18:16] I don’t think you need to go in there and dissect. [18:19] Submissive to rulers and authorities. [18:22] What was he really saying? [18:25] He was saying to be submissive to rulers and authorities.

[18:32] But what’s complicated in that is sometimes we will read this apart from anything else [18:37] in the book and we will say, okay, so for God to love me, I need to be a good citizen.

[18:48] For the Holy Spirit to be working in my life, for the cross to have any significance, I [18:55] have to be obedient, I have to be ready for every good work.

[19:00] And what we do is we miss everything when we do that.

[19:08] And some of you may be asking, but shouldn’t we do those things? [19:11] Yes, but the why is always so much more important than the what.

[19:19] And some of you live life every day and you say, well I pay my taxes, I’m a pretty good [19:26] person, so I’m alright.

[19:29] Let’s see.

[19:32] You’re not alright.

[19:35] Because what you’re doing is you’re forgetting why you even do these things. [19:42] You’re forgetting that you don’t have an obligation to do this. [19:48] This is not an obligation or a command or a law that God is laying out and most of [19:54] us desperately want it to be. [19:59] The discipleship life, that identity that we talked about last week, is not wrapped [20:08] up in whether you are a good person.

[20:14] Some of you are like, you left me on the on-ramp. [20:17] Where are we?

[20:21] That disciple identity in you, what’s going to bring this about, has nothing to do with [20:27] what you’ve done because the fact is that you’re not a good person.

[20:34] Discipleship requires reminders because you’re going to look at these things and say, as [20:40] a person, I think I’m measuring up pretty good, so I’m okay. [20:45] What you’ve done is you have already forgotten about your sin and you have already forgotten [20:52] the fact that it was not your ability to do these things that taught you a thing, but [20:57] rather it was the grace of God that appeared to all men that taught you to live this way. [21:03] Why is Paul telling them to live this way?

[21:07] Because of the power of the gospel working in their lives and the power of the gospel [21:11] that’s going to take place in the community as we gather to disciple each other. [21:17] We’re going to live, and he’s not talking about being submissive to rulers and authorities [21:21] inside the church.

[21:24] He did that in chapter two. [21:27] He’s transitioning now to show a submission and a life towards those who are outside [21:35] of the church. [21:37] What Paul is telling Titus is, Titus, because of the truth of the gospel, teach them to [21:45] live the gospel outside of the walls of the church. [21:50] When he says, teach them to be submissive to authorities, obedient, ready for every

[21:55] good work, to speak evil of no one, avoid quarreling, be gentle, show perfect courtesy [22:04] to all people. [22:06] Remember back when we were talking about elders, and we said one of the qualifications of [22:09] elders is that they’re hospitable. [22:10] I spent a minute just unpacking that saying that has more to do with those outside of [22:15] the church than it does inside of the church.

[22:18] When he says, at the end of verse two, when he unpacks and he says, show perfect courtesy [22:24] toward all people, what he’s saying is that when you form a missional community in chapter [22:30] two that we talked about there, when you’re forming that community, what you’re doing [22:35] is you are forming a community that last week we talked about was centered on the mission. [22:42] In chapter three, he’s saying that community is going to go outside of the walls of the [22:49] church and it’s going to be infiltrating, engaging, and living right in the middle of

[22:57] those who are not of the missional community so that they can be a part of the missional [23:03] community. [23:04] Because community’s purpose is to propel the mission. [23:11] Community does not exist as an end unto itself.

[23:18] This is not all there is. [23:22] If it was, yeah.

[23:30] This exists. [23:32] The very reason that we gather on Sunday mornings in this culture is so that people without [23:40] the gospel can hear the gospel.

[23:44] If I wasn’t worried about that, we would have a choir and I would come out with like a robe [23:48] and I would like, you know, swing some holy water your way because I would set up a system [23:52] of traditional liturgy that we could all just be kind of comfortable with so that we feel [23:56] like we went through some kind of holy motion.

[24:00] But instead we come and we try to be relevant to the culture around us. [24:04] That is not by accident.

[24:09] Community exists for the very purpose to form missional lifestyles. [24:16] Community exists so that we can become missionaries together. [24:24] Okay, because if you will remember, what happens in the life of a disciple is you start at [24:29] redemption. [24:31] You start at what 2 Corinthians 5 talks about, the fact that Christ appeared reconciling [24:37] the world to himself.

[24:39] So Jesus has brought us in and he has reconciled us to himself. [24:44] He has given us a life where God now, excuse me, accepts us because our sin has been dealt [24:51] with and he transforms us. [24:55] He gives us his righteousness. [24:58] So what happens is, is that we’re then transformed and we go from a place where we are redeemed. [25:04] It’s a static place where we have been justified before God.

[25:09] We have been given right standing before God. [25:12] And what Hebrews 4 unfolds is that we now can come before the throne of God boldly.

[25:21] We come before God as if we belong there. [25:25] That’s what the Greek is really unfolding there. [25:27] It’s this place where you come before the throne and you’re just comfortable. [25:31] And it’s like, hey God, I’m here.

[25:35] If you remember back in the Old Testament, what was Esther’s big debate and her problem? [25:41] She needed to go before the king, but she was worried that if she went uninvited, he [25:44] was going to have her decapitated.

[25:48] And the author of Hebrews, what he’s unfolding there is this mentality that because of what [25:53] Jesus has done, that he has earned us this unending invitation to come before God and [26:01] stand there and have a relationship with God where we have a perfect ability to come before [26:08] him with no fear. [26:11] That’s what redemption does. [26:12] It’s a static thing.

[26:13] It never changes. [26:14] It just is. [26:17] And God accepts us. [26:19] And it’s hard for some of us to really believe that God accepts us that much. [26:25] But what it does is it transforms us and it changes us and Jesus gives us his righteousness. [26:32] And what he does then is now we live for a different purpose.

[26:37] He doesn’t save us so that we can come to a service once a week, sing a few songs, [26:42] and then go about life as usual, living like everybody else.

[26:48] He doesn’t do that. [26:51] He just says, okay, come and die.

[26:57] He says, come and I’m going to kill what used to exist of you. [27:02] I’m going to create a whole new person. [27:04] You’re going to have a whole new life. [27:06] It’s this holistic reality of transformation. [27:10] I want you to look in Ephesians chapter 2.

[27:16] Before we go any further, I want us to see what this new life, why does community propel [27:24] mission? [27:25] What is this connection between community and mission? [27:29] Ephesians chapter 2, looking at verse 1, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in [27:33] which you once walked following the course of this world, following the Prince of the [27:37] power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among who

[27:42] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and [27:47] the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. [27:52] Stop right there. [27:53] I want you to look at what we were before Jesus redeemed us.

[28:01] This is the life that we lived. [28:05] This is what our identity was found in. [28:08] Not just part of us, but all of us was submerged in sin. [28:15] Some of you this morning are saying, I can’t stop sinning. [28:18] I don’t know what my problem is. [28:20] There it is.

[28:23] There’s your problem. [28:24] Sin isn’t something that you just start doing one day. [28:29] It’s something that you are. [28:33] You’re born with this bent towards being a sinful, hellacious child of wrath, deserving [28:41] of hell, headed there. [28:45] That’s who you are.

[28:47] And salvation, because of our problem being all encompassing in our lives, salvation is [28:55] not just us offering up a token of that saying, OK, God, the part everybody sees, change [29:01] it.

[29:04] Look what God does in verse four.

[29:08] But God, OK, notice how it doesn’t say, but you. [29:13] OK, you don’t do anything. [29:16] God does it. [29:18] None of you woke up one morning and were like, all right, been sinning for a couple of [29:24] years, I’m going to go find me some God.

[29:27] You didn’t. [29:30] I’m sorry.

[29:33] But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when [29:41] we were dead in our trespasses. [29:44] We talk about death to life. [29:47] This is what we’re talking about. [29:49] Made us alive together with Christ by grace.

[29:57] So when we talk about the life that the gospel causes or grace teaching us to renounce [30:05] ungodliness or grace, taking us to a place where we are now able to follow God and obey [30:12] him. This is what we’re talking about, not talking about something that through your [30:17] effort, you’re going to be able to bring about in your life because you’re not on your best [30:24] day. You’re a child of damnation. [30:27] All right.

[30:29] And that’s uncomfortable for even me to hear, because I really like me. [30:34] Spend a couple of minutes with me, you’ll probably find that real quick. [30:38] Big fan of me. [30:41] So for me to come to a place where I just look to God and say, God, I am not, but you [30:47] are, is hard. [30:50] And I only did it because of the great love with which he loved me, that he brought me

[30:55] to himself.

[30:58] Let’s go further.

[31:02] Look at the mission of God. [31:05] OK. [31:05] And then on that mission for just a minute, would you just slow down and see that what [31:10] God has unraveled throughout the book of Titus when he started saying this is my goal in [31:17] history is to redeem for myself a people. [31:20] When Jesus said that I have come to seek and to save that which was lost, when Jesus said,

[31:25] as we saw last week, go make disciples, when Jesus says in Ephesians two, he says, I have [31:30] brought you from death to life. [31:33] What we’re seeing throughout scripture is this amazing unfolding and revelation of [31:40] the mission of God to redeem a people who don’t even want him. [31:45] But because he’s God, he says, well, I’m going to make you want me. [31:53] It says in Titus chapter three.

[31:59] It says for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, let us stray slaves to various [32:10] passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating [32:16] one another. [32:18] But when you notice any parallels here between Ephesians two, says we used to be bad sinners. [32:25] And then notice that he says, but just like in Ephesians two, but when the goodness and [32:34] loving kindness of God, our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us

[32:43] and righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and [32:51] the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

[33:00] So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal [33:06] life. [33:07] The saying is trustworthy. [33:09] And I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be [33:17] careful to devote themselves to good works. [33:20] These things are excellent and profitable for people.

[33:28] He starts with this grand revelation of the gospel in chapter two, verse 14.

[33:34] Then gives us the life that it creates.

[33:38] Then book ends it and says, you’re living that life because of the gospel.

[33:45] He reminds us that we must constantly come back to what our identity in Jesus is, because [33:55] if we do not, we will very quickly walk out of the life of a disciple and just become [34:04] like the rest of mankind once again.

[34:10] Either somebody that is just covering and saturating themselves in the lives of immorality

[34:18] or somebody that is so self-righteous and so self-centeredly pious that they become [34:27] an idol unto themselves.

[34:31] The Paul is telling Titus, Titus, remind them of who they are in Jesus Christ, because [34:43] that is the only reason and the only way that they can devote their life to the good work [34:53] of the gospel. [34:55] Because when we stop focusing on who Jesus is, we focus on who we are and that is not [35:04] where the gospel is going to be found for your life.

[35:11] It requires this constant reminder.

[35:15] That’s why I really don’t preach a lot of sermons on five steps to a great family.

[35:21] Because you can have the most obedient and good looking kids in the world. [35:28] You can have the greatest marriage on earth.

[35:34] And you are a child of damnation.

[35:37] The hope for your marriage is not moralism.

[35:43] The hope of your marriage is the gospel. [35:45] Because it is only in the gospel that you become to do good works and you never come [35:50] to resent the one that is telling you to do good works.

[35:56] It is because he has done all the work and now we are just following him.

[36:06] Community propels mission because community is the only place where we can come and actually [36:13] find those reminders.

[36:16] When you live a life of isolation, you are just kind of doing what many people do. [36:23] You just sit at home watching all the TV that you can saturate yourself with. [36:27] You are like, oh I heard a sermon this week so it is the same as church. [36:30] So I went to TBN and watched a couple of sermons. [36:32] I wouldn’t really recommend it. [36:34] But you could do that and see some cool haircuts.

[36:37] But you go to TBN and you watch the sermon and you hear it over and over again. [36:42] It is the same as going to church.

[36:45] Sure, this is all you have, the service. [36:48] [36:49] But what begins to happen is you live a life of isolation and you cannot remind yourself [36:54] of the gospel.

[36:58] Because what happens is you begin to waffle because every single one of us are tempted. [37:03] The scriptures are full of this admonition and these revelations of how left unto ourselves [37:09] we will choose sin. [37:11] And so what happens when we live a life of isolation is we never get the reminders that [37:16] we need. [37:17] Paul is not telling Titus to remind himself, he is telling Titus to remind the church.

[37:23] A community.

[37:26] And when we divorce ourselves away from community, what we end up having is just me looking in [37:30] the mirror talking to me. [37:31] Well if I look in the mirror too long, I begin to like what I see no matter what it is doing. [37:36] Or I hate what I see because of what it is doing. [37:39] And so I either fall in love with myself or I hate myself and either one of those are [37:42] gospel centered mentalities.

[37:46] You need community because you will never go out into culture and take the gospel into [37:54] culture unless your community propels you to do it.

[38:02] You’ll either not do it or you’ll do it the wrong way and you’ll become like the guy I [38:06] saw when I was running the 10K who was holding the sign that said repent or burn. [38:10] All right. [38:11] I did not see anyone fall on their face and say, oh, because of your sign, I accept Jesus.

[38:18] We become a caricature of the faith because we alone ruin everything. [38:24] But it’s only when you come together and you submit in humility to discipleship that the [38:33] mission will come home in your heart. [38:37] Because what a missional community does is missional community engages culture.

[38:45] The community itself is not an end in and of itself. [38:50] [38:51] Because the 12 disciples that Jesus chose, they did not live in isolation just themselves. [38:57] They were not an end in and of themselves. [38:58] What do you see them doing throughout the New Testament after Jesus dies and rises? [39:03] You see them constantly coming together for the purpose of going out into culture.

[39:09] They go together and they go separately, but they always go as a community.

[39:16] What we see in Ephesians chapter two is God showing us go from dead to alive. [39:24] What we see in Titus chapter three there is that we go from being dead to alive. [39:30] Notice in verse three how he starts.

[39:35] For we ourselves were once foolish.

[39:43] Do you see the reminder there?

[39:47] Paul’s saying, don’t be so quick, pious Paul, to forget that at one time you were in the same boat [39:58] as the culture outside of the walls of the church.

[40:02] I think he tells him that for two reasons.

[40:05] First reason is because he wants them to never grow past a place [40:10] where they forget what the gospel has done to them. [40:14] He wants them to understand the greatness and the severity [40:18] of the redemptive work that God has done in their lives. [40:22] And he wants them to understand that so that they will constantly have this realization [40:28] of what Jesus has redeemed them out of so they can come to a place of worship

[40:34] and so they can stop carrying the baggage of the past. [40:38] Some of you don’t want to remember what God has redeemed you from [40:42] because you’re still carrying the baggage of guilt of what you’ve done in your life.

[40:51] If you want to know if that’s you or not, what have you done in your life that you don’t want to talk to anybody about?

[40:58] What have you done in your life that you don’t want anybody to know about?

[41:03] The reason? You’re still carrying the baggage of guilt and you haven’t allowed Jesus to take it off of you.

[41:13] Paul tells Titus to remind them of the life they used to live. [41:16] Not so they can just roll around in self-misery, [41:19] oh look at the junk I’ve done. I’m no good.

[41:23] No.

[41:26] So that they can worship Jesus for the power of his resurrection. [41:30] So they can see where God has brought them from.

[41:36] Second reason.

[41:39] Is so that they will stop being judgmental of people outside of the church.

[41:49] Paul tells Titus, you remind them that those people that they are saying are such bad sinners and are ruining the society [41:55] and are doing such terrible things to the world and are ruining the world of politics and you know, those people. [42:04] Paul says, remind the church that if not for the grace of God, they would be exactly the same.

[42:13] Because it is pretty hard to take the mission of Jesus to people that you hate.

[42:21] The church has a real problem today with hating people who don’t wear the same uniform as they do.

[42:31] Unknowingly they’re the ones that are supposed to take that uniform to them.

[42:37] Because that uniform is the righteousness of Jesus.

[42:42] Paul is telling them, you used to be like them.

[42:47] And then he reminds them of the gospel. [42:49] Because he’s saying that the purpose of missional community is to push you out into that culture. [42:56] Because redemption is the work of Jesus.

[43:03] It’s not the work of me. [43:05] It’s not the work of you. [43:06] You can’t redeem anybody. [43:08] I think we pretty much clearly saw it. [43:10] You can’t even redeem yourself. [43:13] So what Paul is actually doing when he goes through the rest of this and he constantly reminds him,

[43:18] he’s saying the gospel is trustworthy. [43:22] It’s the third time he said that in the book of Titus.

[43:26] He’s saying the gospel is trustworthy. [43:29] It is what you bank your entire life on. [43:34] But some of you are not banking your life on the truth of the gospel. [43:38] You’re banking your life on the truth of a plethora of other things. [43:43] But when you bank your life on the truth of the gospel, [43:48] you begin to understand God’s purpose through redemptive history.

[43:52] You begin to understand that what redemption looks like is what Jesus has done to me. [43:58] You begin to understand that scripture is the story of God bringing his mission to us. [44:04] And then bringing his mission through us. [44:06] Then you begin to understand that there is an us to the church. [44:11] And you begin to understand that without the community of God found in the church, [44:17] you are nothing more than a lone ranger crying into the wind

[44:21] who’s eventually just going to lose all of his wind power [44:24] and go back to living the life that you lived before you even knew that Jesus existed. [44:29] And then you will begin to go out into the culture with your community [44:35] so that you can build the community.

[44:40] And then what happens through the type of lifestyle that goes from redemption [44:44] to mission to community to culture is that that community becomes a dangerous force [44:52] in the culture. [44:54] And you begin to see other lives experience the same redemption that you yourself at one time [45:03] experienced for the first time. [45:06] And you begin to see lives changed through the gospel of Jesus

[45:12] because you have risked everything because you’re banking your life on your ruthless trust [45:21] that the gospel is better than anything else that you could do with your time.

[45:30] Because Jesus doesn’t want your Sunday mornings. [45:37] He wants your whole life.

[45:45] And it’s not because you’re special. [45:49] It’s not because I’m special.

[45:53] It’s because Jesus. [45:55] Begging those words. [46:00] It’s because but God revealed his mercy to us through his son who’s trustworthy and who is able [46:13] to redeem you from that life of damnation that you are saturated and soaked with. [46:21] And he wants to redeem you so that you can take that redemption to others with your community.

[46:35] That’s why we have such a huge emphasis on community groups.

[46:45] David Platt, the pastor down in Alabama. [46:48] He once said, Disciple making involves identifying with a community of believers [46:54] who show love to one another and share life with one another as we live together [47:02] for the glory of God.

[47:06] We read that part of it looks uncomfortable because you know it’s that life on life thing [47:10] that we’re all uncomfortable with. [47:13] But that the gospel will create in us. [47:15] I want you to hone in on is that last part.

[47:19] Because I think that last part is the most important part. [47:22] Because we can join together and experience life on life for the purpose of fantasy baseball. [47:26] And we’ll all have a really good time.

[47:32] But what he hones in on that’s so important in this passage is why the community even exists.

[47:38] It exists for the glory of God. [47:42] And we can pretend all we want to that that’s subjective and that that’s different for every person.

[47:51] But it’s not. [47:52] The glory of God has a definition.

[47:57] And I think we find it in Revelation chapter 7.

[48:02] That God wants people from all over the world. [48:07] Every tribe, every tongue, every nation. [48:09] You know how many people that is? [48:11] It’s a lot. [48:13] God’s saying he wants them all.

[48:17] He says, and they’re gonna worship me.

[48:21] That’s the vision God puts of the end of time.

[48:26] Absent of guillotines and the mark of the beast. [48:28] That’s the vision. [48:30] Absent of some weird movie that you watch in the 70s.

[48:34] I really love those movies though. [48:35] They’re really fun. [48:36] All right. [48:36] I mean, some of you were like, I have no idea. [48:39] You didn’t go to youth group. [48:40] I’m sorry you missed them.

[48:43] All right. [48:43] The little kids had to leave when we watched those movies.

[48:47] But this is God’s grand vision of the end. [48:52] He’s saying that’s what my glory looks like. [48:54] And that’s where I’m taking history.

[48:58] And what he’s saying that’s so important about his glory is that when we gather as community, [49:04] God is going to supernaturally use our community as we live in the culture.

[49:17] He’s gonna use it to bring people out of that culture and into our community.

[49:28] Not because there’s anything special about us, but because of what he has done. [49:34] His completion is what gives us cause to live.

[49:40] The fact that the gospel is true, that we’re fully accepted, [49:43] that there’s nothing that we ever need to do again to earn his acceptance. [49:46] That’s why we can live.

[49:50] The fact that it’s trustworthy, the fact that it’s true, [49:54] is why God brings us in.

[49:58] It says now live in light of truth.

[50:02] There’s no other kind of life worth having. [50:05] No other kind of life worth living. [50:09] It’s just the gospel.

[50:13] And every day, you have to remind yourself of that. [50:19] My question is, is how long are you gonna last just reminding yourself?

[50:27] I think you’re gonna last until about 1.30 this afternoon.

[50:36] That’s why community doesn’t stop here. [50:42] Paul’s given a vision of a real community.

[50:45] He’s saying day in and day out, you need people in your life that know the gospel, [50:57] live the gospel, and trust the gospel. [51:00] And I want you to remind yourself of the gospel. [51:04] I’m gonna fill you in. [51:05] There’s already too many of you for me to keep reminding you.

[51:11] So you know where that’s gonna happen? [51:15] It’s gonna happen out here.

[51:21] Remind each other.

[51:24] And remind me. [51:26] Father,

[51:31] we love you.

[51:35] Because you love us.

[51:39] You’ve given yourself to us. [51:41] You’ve given your life to us.

[51:46] You’ve given us your son.

[51:49] Because of your mercy,

[51:53] we have life.

[51:55] God, may we be a community of people.

[52:01] Who not only know the truth, but the truth has done something amazing. [52:06] It has come into our lives, and then it is going out of our lives into each other. [52:12] And into the culture that needs it.