Question:
What do you want to be known for when you die?
“I want to be known for being a great father or mother.”
“I want to be known for being a great worker"
"I want to be known for being a great teacher.”
Most Christians would say:
“I want to be known as a person who people could look at and they could see Christ.”
These statements are very honorable way of living life. But let's look again at that last statement.
“I want to be known as a person who people could look at and they could see Christ.”
Titus 2:11-14
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” As we look at these next few verses, I want to point out that the corner stone of this though unit is “the grace of God.” Well, the grace of God what? The grace of God “hath appeared.” That is because if God’s grace had not been given unto us, then there is no way for the rest of the passage to take place. You will see what I mean as I move along and I will refer back to this several times. But what does the “grace of God” do? The text tells us two things. First of all, it “bringeth salvation . . . to all men.” Next logical question is what does this mean for us? It means that the plan of salvation has been revealed to all men. Our Justification is now possible once we place our faith in Christ. God’s atonement has covered our sin in full.
The “grace of God“ first of all brings salvation to men but secondly, it also teaches us two important things. Verse 12 states, “Teaching us that” number one, “denying ungodliness” and secondly, “worldly lusts” First of all, the word ungodliness here means all that would be included under the word impiety; that is, all failure in the performance of our proper duties towards God. Secondly, “denying . . . worldly lusts.” Lust does not always mean sexual desires, but it can. Lust simply means strong desires. It could be desires for wealth, fame, glory, and things of that nature. Verse 12 continues by saying, “We should love soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” This phrase takes us to the life long process of every Christian: Sanctification. I believe these three adjectives sum up the goal of Sanctification rather nicely. “Soberly, righteously, and godly.” Soberly--Due restraint on our passions and propensities; Righteously--This refers to the proper performance of our duties to our fellowmen; and Godly--Piously; that is, in the faithful performance of our duties to God. Each one of these character traits deals with our duty to either ourselves (Soberly), others (righteousness), and God (godly).
During the process of Sanctification, which starts at the moment of our salvation and will end at either our death or the Lord’s return, we need to keep the main purpose of this thought unity. Verse 13. Verse 13 says, “Looking for. . .” notice the two things, “that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” THIS is where I want to park and prove my point. We need to keep our eyes towards our glorification. Christians could be categorized in two categories: gazers and goers. Paul here is telling us to be a gazing goer—to be preparing your life for your glorification as well as looking forward to the glorification. As Matthew 6:20-21 says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. . . For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” I love how straight-forward and self-explanatory these two verses are. As Christians, if we made our goal in life to “lay up treasures,” and to prepare ourselves for our eternity with our Savior, then we would have no time to live in ungodliness and lust. We go from day to day worrying about our lives and our present situations instead of preparing for our eternity with Christ.There is a joke that I use to tell when I was in lower elementary school and it goes parallel with what I've been addressing. The joke goes like this:
There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel suddenly appears to him and says, "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might let him bring just a small portion of his wealth. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed. Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet Peter. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!" The wealthy man explained to Peter his situation quickly and then Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!”
Although this joke is unbelievable and corny, it does show us the attitude that a lot of us have. We use what little time on earth that we have and we use it to train to amass whatever we can in this life. I love how 1 Corinthians 13:12-15 states it: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
Paul continues in verse 14 by saying: “Who gave himself for us. . .” Why? “That he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.” God’s refining fire does more than just purify our good works, it also purifies us. It sets us apart as His children. If we live life with our focus of laying treasure in Heaven, of coming through God’s fire purified, and presenting good works to our Lord, then our lives here on earth would drastically change. We would have our focus on others and not ourselves to the point of where we are more concerned about others than we are about ourselves.
For people to look at your life and see Christ, you must live with your eyes toward Heaven.
I cannot think of anyone that is a better example of a life that fits this description than Mr. Randy Shepard. Last year, Mr. Shepard was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was told he had a year to live. I had the great joy privilege of knowing Mr. Shepard for 20 years. As I have grown up, he has been a perfect example of a person who lived with his eyes on Heaven. Mr. Shepard passed away on April 8th, 2012. During his last year on earth, he poured out his life into his grandkids, church, and friends. There is a popular song called, “I Saw Jesus In You” and Mr. Shepard fits that song perfectly. He will always be remembered as a man who lived his life, especially his last year, with his eyes on Heaven. Because of the way he lived his earthly life, his life has mirrored Christ. May we all strive to live a lift the way that Titus 2:11-14 teaches.
My challenge
is this: Stop living for the present and the moment and shift your focus . . . your eyes to your Glorification and prepare for it. That way, our lives will reflect Christ and will be a testimony to others.
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