Titus 3:4-7 God Our Savior
Introduction
In October 2008 Richard Garriott, the video game developer nicknamed “Lord British” after one of his characters, became the first ever second generation astronaut. For a measly 30 million bucks he secured a place on the Russian space team set to rendezvous with the International Space Station, and so following his father into space. While in the heavens he held up a placard with a message encrypted in a fictional language created for one of his games. Devoted gamers decoded the message and found it to be a quote from Soviet rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – “Earth is the cradle of humanity but mankind will not be in the cradle forever.”
So we have the story of a son following his father from Earth to the heavens and sending back the message that humanity will one day leave Earth under our own power.
In our text today we have the story of a Father in heaven who sent his Son to Earth to accomplish something for us beyond our own abilities that brings about a real change in the destiny of individual people.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
~ Titus 3:4-7
There are three questions we need to ask of this passage to help us grasp what is going on. What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen?
What happened? He saved us. Why did it happen? His own mercy. How did it happen? He poured out.
He Saved Us
All the action in this passage is performed by God. In fact, all three persons of the Trinity are at work and, though in different roles, all three are in perfect harmony to reach the desired result. But the main focus of this entire passage revolves around a simple three word sentence – “he saved us”. God our Savior, God the Father, took the initiative in our rescue, made the necessary arrangements in the unfolding of time and fulfilled what was needed to make sure we did not stay on the road to destruction we were on. He saved us.
Think about this for a second. The God of the universe, whose throne is in heaven, who wears outer space like a windbreaker and who rests his feet on the earth got “hands-on” involved in making a way for us to escape the bad end waiting for us.
Why would God do this for us? Why did it happen?
His Own Mercy
He was not prompted by your good efforts, or mine. This is clear and this is key. I can’t sneak in my own contribution by somehow earning God’s favor by doing good. I end up a hypocrite. I am in need of salvation because my own supposedly good efforts can never make up for the bad I do in trying to be my own savior. Being religious just doesn’t work. Yet, neither does rejecting religion. If I’m too weak to be my own savior, surely I am in no position to be my own judge. I can neither achieve my own right standing before God nor dismiss the goodness he requires.
God our Father is prompted to save us because of his own nature of goodness and loving kindness which he directs toward us. He is full of mercy – his divine power acting on behalf of our human weakness. Rescuing us is in harmony with who God is. He does not come to our aid unwillingly or begrudgingly. He is God our Savior.
He saved us, prompted by his own mercy. What took place? How did this happen?
He Poured Out
The rebirth and renewal we experience are given through the Holy Spirit. We are born again, not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth into the kind of spiritual life God wants for us. We are born into a new life within God’s kingdom, a kingdom governed by his nature, and we are washed and renewed and given a new ability to live life within that kingdom. But at what cost?
God is merciful, but God is also just. He cannot abandon his own holy nature. His saving us did not come without cost. The goodness we could not achieve or dismiss he provides and the punishment we earned he inflicts – but on Jesus, not on us.
God pours out the new life of the Spirit on us because he first poured out Jesus’ blood for us. A great exchange took place on the cross. Jesus received death so that we could have life. God the Father was merciless toward his Son so that he could be merciful toward us. The Son of the Father, full of mercy and goodness and kindness toward us, like his Father, is Jesus Christ our Savior.
Believe in God
We have a new destiny because God saved us, a new life with God, real life, eternal life. What happened? He saved us. Why did it happen? By his own mercy. How did it happen? He poured out the blood of his Son for us so that he could pour out his Spirit on us and make us new.
There’s one final question that you may be asking, “How can this happen to me?” We’ve already seen that it’s not because of our own efforts. In fact, we get it by giving up on our own efforts. The very next verse after our text tells us…The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works… Believing in God, trusting in his goodness, relying on his favor, accepting at face value that…he saved us. That’s how we get it.
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