The First Sunday after the Epiphany
January 10, 2016
Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Do you remember the Staples commercials featuring the “Easy Button”? Wouldn’t it be great if there really was such a thing as an “Easy Button”? If you were at work and the boss gave you a whole stack of things that needed to get done A.S.A.P. or if you had a whole long list of chores that you have been wanting to get done all you would have to do is hit your “Easy Button” and it would all be done! If you got home from work and had no idea what you were going to do for supper— just hit your “Easy Button.” If you were having relationship problems or financial problems or car problems or health problems why not at least try using your “Easy Button”!
Well guess what, my friends! There actually is such a thing as an “Easy Button”! In fact, I went down to Staples last week and got me an “Easy Button” for just $6.99 plus tax. But guess what! It doesn’t work! When I got back to my office I put my “Easy Button” on my desk, hit it and the only thing that happened was it said— “That was easy!”
All kidding aside, our text for this morning is “easy.” By that I mean that our text for this morning places God’s entire Plan of Salvation before us in a way that is extremely “easy” to understand! And unlike my newly-acquired “Easy Button” (which is all words but no results) God’s Plan of Salvation actually works!
Today then I would like us to study this “easy” text under an “easy” theme. Our theme for today is: He Saved Us! An easy theme deserves to have easy parts. Therefore this morning we are going to focus on four easy questions: #1) Who saved us? #2) Why did He save us? #3) How did all this become ours, and #4) What is the result of Him saving us?
While our text for today does not include Titus 3:3 that verse does indeed set the tone for our text. Therefore we will look at it briefly. Paul writes, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasure. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” I don’t want to spend much time on this verse, but we do need to recognize that here in Titus 3:3 Paul is describing you— and me— and all people before He saved us! This verse is a very accurate description of who we were by nature and how we would still be living our lives if He had not saved us!
With that in mind let’s turn our attention to our first question— Who saved us? If we tried to answer that question on our own— using our own ideas and our own opinions— this would not only be an extremely difficult question to answer, but we would probably be debating all the different answers we come up with for a long long time! However, when we look at what Paul reveals to us here in our text not only are we able to answer that question correctly, but we are also able to say— “That was easy!”
When we look at our text as a whole it is quite easy to see that the answer to the question, “Who saved us?” is very simply— the Triune God! First, look at the opening verse of our text. Paul writes, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us….” What event is Paul referring to here? He is referring to Christmas! God the Father’s “kindness,” God the Father’s “love for mankind” (which is a literal translation of the Greek word that Paul uses here— “philanthropia”) is clearly revealed when God the Father sent His eternally begotten Son into this world as our true Brother. While we don’t often use this term Paul is absolutely correct when he refers to our heavenly Father as “God our Savior.”
Now look at the second half of verse five and all of verse six. Here Paul emphasizes that God the Father saved us, “…through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” We’ll be coming back to this verse in just a minute, but since the Triune God is the only true God it is “easy” for us to see that the only acceptable correct answer to the question, “Who saved us?” is: the God who reveals Himself to us in Scripture — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
While this is indeed an “easy” answer to the question of “Who saved us?” it is not always an “easy” answer to proclaim in our society today. You may remember a few years ago when a member of congress took the oath of office with his hand on a Koran. One article I read at the time said that this event emphasizes that “religious differences are nothing to be afraid of.” The prevailing winds of our society today are indeed trying to convince us that it doesn’t make any difference what religion you hold to. The prevailing winds of our society are tying to convince us that it doesn’t make any difference if you are a Muslim or a Mormon, if you hold to the hollow teachings of Judaism or the heretical teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The prevailing winds of our society today are trying to convince us that all the various religions are simply “different pathways to the same salvation,” that we are “all worshiping the same god, we just call him by different names.” The only way we could even remotely agree with the prevailing winds of our society today is if we were not concerned about where we or anyone else will spend eternity. There is only one God who has the power, who has the right, who has the “kindness” and “love” necessary to save us! He is the Triune God of Scripture!
Let’s move on to our second question— “Why did the Triune God save us?” Look at the opening portion of verse five, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Here is where we need to remember how Paul describes our natural sinful condition in Titus 3:3. By nature we were all “foolish, disobedient” and “deceived.” By nature we were all “enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasure.” By nature we all “lived in malice and envy.” By nature we all were constantly “being hated and hating one another.” By nature we were all completely unable to save ourselves from our own sins!
That’s why the Scriptures so simply and so clearly emphasizes that “He saved us!” The Triune God did not save us because He saw that we either were living or were at least capable of living a decent, upright and “righteous” life. He saved us “because of his mercy.” The Triune God did not save us because we “deserve” to be saved. He saved us “because of his mercy.” The Triune God did not save us because of our works or because of our efforts or because of our good intentions or because we decided that we wanted to be saved. He saved us “because of his mercy.” The Triune God took pity on us poor sinners by sending His Son into this world to pay the penalty for our sins— right there on the cross. No matter how much we would like to believe that we contributed at least a little bit to our own salvation, Scripture clearly and consistently proclaims a simple— “easy”— answer to the question of “Why did the Triune God save us?” The answer is found here in our text when Paul says, “He saved us…because of his mercy.”
That leads us to our third question: How did this amazing gift of God’s boundless mercy, how did this amazing gift of God’s eternal salvation become ours? That’s easy! Look once again at the second half of verse five and all of verse six, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” This portion of our text reveals to us that Baptism is not simply a ceremony which symbolizes a person’s commitment to Christ. Baptism is a sacrament given to us by “God our Savior”! Baptism is a “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Through the seemingly simple act of pouring or sprinkling or immersing someone in water in the Name of the Triune God that person’s sins are completely washed away. They are “born again” as a dearly beloved adopted child of the Living God. They are “renewed” or “restored” through the power of God the Holy Spirit.
Yes, my friends, as “simple” as Baptism seems, as “easy” as Baptism is to do, it was through this holy Sacrament that many of us received the holiness and the righteousness and the perfection that the God of heaven demands of us. As “simple” as Baptism seems, as “easy” as Baptism is to do it is on the basis of this holy Sacrament that many of us can answer the question of, “How did God’s amazing gift of forgiveness, eternal life and salvation become mine?” by saying, “That’s easy! I was baptized in the Name of the Triune God!”
That bring us to our final question for this morning, “What is the result of the fact that the Triune God saved us?” Look at the closing verse of our text, “He saved us…so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” The result of God’s “kindness,” the result of God’s “philanthropy” (His love for all mankind), the result of God’s “grace” is that you are “justified”! Through faith in what the Triune God has done for you (pointing to the cross) you have been “Declared: Not Guilty!” by God Himself. Because you are “Not Guilty!” because you are a saved child of your heavenly Father you are an “heir” of the Kingdom of Heaven! You have the sure confident hope, the Christian expectation that when your life here on this earth comes to an end you will immediately inherit a glorious “eternal life” in your heavenly Father’s home! And if anyone asks you how you can be sure of this, if anyone asks you why you are so confident of where you will spend eternity answer them by first saying, “That’s easy!” and then point them to the cross and say, “He saved us!”
Ironically, my “Easy Button” came with instructions. Thankfully, the instructions were limited to five easy steps! STEP 1: Identify a difficult situation. STEP 2. Press your Easy Button. STEP 3. Listen to the reassuring message. STEP 4. Smile and get on with your day. STEP 5. Repeat as necessary. While it’s kind of cute— it’s certainly not a cure-all, is it. Difficult situations don’t disappear quite so “easily.”
Thank God, my friends, that when it comes to the most “difficult” situation of all— the sin that separated us from the God of heaven, thank God that when it comes to the extremely “difficult” question of how any mortal sinful human being can even hope to spend eternity in the joy and perfection of heaven, thank God that there is a simple (dare we say “easy”?) answer! Lift up your eyes to the cross and listen as Scripture lovingly proclaims to you, “He saved us!”
To God be the glory!
Amen