The Hope of Advent - Titus 2:11-15

 

The Hope of Advent

Titus 2:10b-15

Introduction: Thanksgiving is past, and the Christmas decorations around the church (and around our neighborhoods!) have begun to appear. In our neighborhood, we saw some decorations going up already right after Halloween!   For many people, Christmas is a time for adorning the house and decorating the tree with the symbols that are associated with Advent.  Those traditions are fine, as long as we maintain our focus on the One who is the reason for the season!

       This week as we begin our Advent celebration, we’ll focus on the “Hope” that came with the first coming of Christ.  His coming according to promise in the incarnation is the foundation of our hope for His second coming. We’ll turn today to a passage in Paul’s letter to Titus and we are reminded that sound doctrine, right teaching of God’s word, is something that we can adorn, it is visible as it impacts us and changes us, it gives us hope, while revealing the beauty of the Gospel to those around us: “…in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” One translation says, “make attractive” the teaching. When people see that we have hope in the midst of this chaotic world it gets their attention because “hope” is something everyone desperately longs for…

…so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.  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 lawless-ness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.  ¹⁵ Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority… (Titus 2:10-15a).

Have you ever faced a situation that seemed hopeless? Such must have been the feeling of John Aldredge and Anthony Sosinski. They were commercial fishermen, heading out from Montauk, Long Island in the summer of 2017.

As they headed out to sea, about 40 miles offshore, Anthony was sleeping below deck while John was working to get things ready for the catch they would soon begin to haul in. John was pulling on a handle with all of his might when it snapped, sending him sprawling backwards, and right off the boat. As soon as he surfaced he began screaming for help, but he knew there was no way for Anthony to hear him below deck. And he didn’t. John watched the boat pulling away, over the crest of a wave, and that was it, he couldn’t see it anymore. He was alone, treading water in the open Atlantic, without a life vest, thinking this was the way he was going to die. I can’t imagine what that must have felt like. A hopeless situation? Or was it?

I can’t even imagine being in such a situation, how could you not feel it was hopeless? Most of us have never been overboard in a dark ocean, but have you ever been in a situation where you began to lose hope, where it seemed there was nothing but darkness as you looked ahead?  What can give us perspective, and hope, as believers in Jesus, is the truth that we have a sure hope that is based on the truth that Jesus Christ has defeated death, He knows us, and one day we will see Him face to face. One little boy said, “Hope is wishin’ for something that you know ain’t gonna happen!” Biblical hope is different, hope means to anticipate something with a confident expectation that it is coming. We find comfort in the promise that the suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). In Titus 2 Paul is saying that as we live in submission to God’s revealed truth, we reveal the intrinsic beauty of who God is, and what he has done in us and for us. For Paul theology is always practical and it must filter from our mind to our heart, and to our hands and our feet. The truth He has revealed empowers and motivates us to live by faith.

The BIG Idea: The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return! 

I. The Advent of Christ means hope: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…”

       Grace has appeared, because the Grace Giver, the gracious Redeemer, burst upon the stage of human history 2000 years ago. Grace has appeared since He came of his own free will, with a purpose, to give himself to provide salvation for all who would believe.  We are so familiar with the story we can almost forget how astounding it is in the way that it unfolded. After 400 years of silence, the God of all creation, the Lord of the universe who spoke in times past through the prophets, spoke in His Son.  He Himself took on a human nature, He came as one of us. The Jewish people in the first century had a hope based on Scripture, hope that one day Messiah would arrive and save His people. Yet contrary to popular expectations he came under the humblest circumstances not to defeat armies and establish His earthly kingdom, but rather to make a way for forgiveness and true life. Remember what the angel told Joseph: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins…” (Mt 1:21).

       Paul goes on to say that grace appeared, “…bringing salvation for all people…” Not to say that all people would be saved, but that the price has been paid and the gift has been offered, the One Way of salvation through faith in Christ has been extended to all classes of people, and to all races and nations.  In the context, Paul had just been talking to masters and servants, to husbands and wives, to young and old, telling them to walk worthy of their calling in Christ.  Jesus is the one and only source of forgiveness and life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only name under heaven by which we can be saved (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).   *The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. Christmas means hope, and…

II. Hope calls us to live differently: “…training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…” 

       First of all, we are to live differently in terms of what we don’t do: “…teaching us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts…” Sin is a choice.  Whenever we know what God would have us to do (or not do!) and we choose to go our own way, we sin. Essentially, we are turning our back on God and rejecting His Word, at least for the moment. As we live our lives in this fallen world, our hope in Christ is something that motivates us to live more and more in the light of eternity. We repent of our sins, and we turn to Jesus. Increasingly, our forward focus on Jesus and what He has prepared for us will enable us to say no to sin: “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me…” (Gal 2:20). We have hope! Hope calls us to live differently.

       Positively, we are called to live in a way that manifests the fruit of the Spirit, the presence of God in our lives: “…we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age…” Did you know that you are living, already, in the future? We have, right now, eternal life. We are living in this world, but we are citizens of heaven. We walk in this present age, but we already are partakers of the age to come. Paul said, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…” (Col 1:13). Our hope about the future motivates us to live differently, to adorn, that is, “make attractive,” the doctrine of God. And so, as the first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace, it also motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. So, 1) Advent means hope, 2) And hope calls us to live differently, and…

III. Hope calls us to live expectantly… “…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”

       Hope involves waiting confidently, expectantly.  The word “hope” usually has a different connotation in modern English, it’s something we desire or want or long for, but we don’t necessarily have confidence that it will happen.  We “hope” it will, but there may be doubt. Our “hope” might be no more than wishful thinking. Biblical hope isn’t “wishing for something you know ain’t gonna happen.”  “Hope” implies anticipation, confidence, faith, based on God’s revealed Word, an assurance that God is good, and a sure expectation that God’s story is going to unfold according to His plan.

        Waiting for what? The first coming of Christ revealed grace, God’s unmerited favor, and presented the basis of the gracious salvation provided in the Cross. His second coming will reveal more fully his unveiled glory. We see glimpses of His glory now, but wait until we see what John saw in Revelation 1:13-18,

“…and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.  ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;  ¹⁵ His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;  ¹⁶ He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.  ¹⁷ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  ¹⁸ "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.”

       Waiting for who? The language here is quite emphatic, “…our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…” He is our Savior. Because of Him we have hope. He is God, so our hope is sure. God so loved the world! Think of that: *The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace, and it motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

IV. The Advent of Hope was costly and purposeful: “…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.” 

          Christmas is a time for giving, but there is no doubt that the true gift of Christmas was presented 2000 years ago, once and for all. If that is not our intentional focus, the gift-giving can distract us from the greatest gift of Christmas, which came at such cost….

In an episode of the comic strip “Peanuts,” Charlie Brown cracks open his piggy bank. He says to Lucy, “Look, I’ve got $9.11 to spend on Christmas gifts.”  Lucy is not impressed as she says, “You can’t buy something for everyone with $9.11, Charlie Brown.” Charlie Brown says, “Oh yeah? Well I’m gonna try!” “Then” Lucy continues, “they’re sure gonna be cheap presents.”  Charlie says with absolute conviction, “Nothing is cheap if it costs all that you have.”

On the very first Christmas, God gave us all that He had: Himself, in the person of his Son, Jesus. Thirty-three years later Jesus would give us all that he had: his very life. Now it is our turn to give a gift to Jesus, and it should, likewise, cost all that you've got. 

It wasn’t purchased on Black Friday, it was bought on Good Friday. Ultimately it was not a present under a tree, but the One who was given, was hung on a tree.  He “gave himself for us,” that not only means that He came for us, but that he came to die for us. He gave himself to redeem us from the penalty of sin. “Redeem” is from lutroo, “free by paying a ransom.” We were guilty, condemned sinners, unable to free ourselves.  There is an old famous story of A.J. Gordon who was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston. It’s worth retelling…

“One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?" He said, "I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well." Gordon replied, "I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar [away].”

       OK, they were only birds, but that’s a picture of redemption. A price was paid, and they were free. The wages of sin is death. That is what we deserved. Jesus paid the price that we couldn’t pay.  He did what we could not do for ourselves. He who was without sin, was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Advent of Hope was costly, it was also purposeful.  He gave himself to make possible a new life, to give us a new heart. Remember that beautiful passage in Ezekiel 36:25-27,  

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

For that hope to be ours, a price had to be paid, God’s justice, His wrath against sin, had to be satisfied. Jesus, the Son, came to be the Lamb who would take the penalty, and by grace through faith, we receive His righteousness.  That grace was revealed in the first coming of Jesus and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

V. Hope engages us in mission: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority…” (15).

         Paul admonished Titus to declare the truth, to speak about the hope we have in Christ, not apologetically, but confidently. It was a mission that Paul himself embraced and lived, and it was something that he expected to see in others. We too are called to be his witnesses, to boldly stand up for Christ and to speak the truth in love, with passion and conviction. Think back to our study of Jonah (I know it is over a year ago!). Remember his initial unwillingness to share the message of God with unbelieving Ninevites? I think the implication of the book is that by the end Jonah gets it, and his readers are invited to accept the call as well. Are you looking for opportunities to share that message of Hope with those in your sphere of influence? The call to share the message of hope that Jesus offers is a key aspect of the ongoing mission of the church. The first step in making disciples is telling people the truth about Jesus, about who He is and why He came. Christmas is a perfect time for that. We are surrounded by people who desperately need Jesus.  At this time of the year people are perhaps more open to hear what we have to say about the One who gave himself to give us hope.

What is God saying to me in this passage?  The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  As you might remember, John Aldredge survived his harrowing ordeal when he fell overboard.

He didn’t panic. First, he realized that he could invert his boots, trapping some air inside, and he put them under his arms as a flotation device. He had a flicker of hope… at least he could keep afloat. Four hours later, Anthony, back on the boat, woke up, and found the broken handle. He realized what must have happened and called the Coast Guard. John made it alive until morning, and tried to keep his hope alive. He was close to despair when he spotted a fishing buoy, which he was able to reach and latch onto. A surge of hope! Only about an hour later, a Coast Guard helicopter flew nearby and spotted him, waving and splashing!  By the time he was pulled aboard, about 12 hours had passed since John went overboard. He didn’t lose hope.

Truth be told, John didn’t have a reasonable expectation of rescue. Our hope is sure in Jesus.

1) As we enter the Advent season this year may I ask you, do you have hope?  I don’t mean wishful thinking or denial, but real hope, hope that is firmly grounded in the truth that God is, and that He has spoken in the Son; assurance that He became a man, He lived among us, He bore our sins on the tree, and He rose from the grave. Trust Him! Entrust yourself to Him.

2) Know this: He will return! That is biblical hope, that is our sure hope, because of Him.

3) Stay engaged in the Mission. Listen: He didn’t brave the lines on Black Friday to buy us gifts, He faced the Cross on Good Friday to purchase life and hope for all who believe! The price has been paid, the gift is offered to all… That is news to share! Hold forth the Word of Life!  AMEN.