A People for His Own Possession | Titus 2:1–15 | Living Out the Gospel with Grace and Conviction

Watch This Sermon: “A People for His Own Possession”

In this sermon on Titus 2:1–15, Pastor Mark unpacks how God’s love isn’t just a distant concept—it’s a reality revealed in the person and work of Christ. As people redeemed by grace, we are called to live distinct lives that reflect the gospel in every season and station. From older men and women to young believers and those in challenging circumstances, the Christian life is marked by holiness, love, and good works. This message challenges us to embrace our identity as God’s people and live out our faith in tangible ways that impact the world around us.

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The love of God is amazing, and it's without measure. We can't even begin to fathom how much God loves us. The story of the Bible is how great this love is and how it is shown to us in Christ. And this is why we want to make sure that we never separate the doctrine and teaching found in Scripture from the idea of God's love. because it lets us know how we can be certain of this love that God has for us. As I always say, the love of God is not something abstract out there someplace.

The love of God is more than just a really nice feeling that a cosmic being out there somewhere has for you. If we speak about God's love in the abstract, we know a truth but we really don't know that much about it, do we? Now let me explain what I'm saying here and what I'm getting at with an example. Imagine that this past Friday, there was no school for the students in our community. Sorry kids, I know that wasn't true and didn't mean to rub salt in the wound, but let's just imagine that that was the case.

I gave you a truth there, that there was no school. And the students, if there was no school, they would say that is a very important truth. No school. But what do you really know about the situation? You don't know much, do you? You don't know anything about how that came about. Was there a holiday? Perhaps there was a teacher's in-service. Was there a snowstorm and school was canceled because it was too dangerous to go out on the roads? Maybe there was a problem with the water and so they couldn't have school for that reason.

While that's unlikely, From the information I gave you to start out with, that is a possibility. Like I said, I gave you an important truth, very important truth. You need to know whether or not you need to go to school, but you don't know why it's true. You don't know why to believe it, and you don't know how that came about. And when we say God loves you, We are speaking in the abstract. But we don't know the details of what that love looks like. How we can know it. Or what the benefit is to have that love that God has for us.

But doctrine lets us know that the love of God is sure. That the love of God is strong for us. Because God the Son took on human flesh. He suffered. He died. He rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father for us. And that's the gospel. It's the good news that lets us know the depth and the width and the breadth of God's amazing love for us. This good news about God's love is what God the Spirit uses in us to lead us to love others and to live in holiness. And I said this a few times last week.

This reminds us that sound doctrine is not about checking off the boxes of believing the right stuff. It isn't about being right. It isn't about winning arguments. It's about loving God. It's about loving our neighbor. Because we want others to experience the love and the freedom that we have in Jesus. And so we want to ensure that the message that we proclaim is accurate. The message is true. Because this message also causes us to overflow to good works. not because we're trying to earn our way into God's favor, but because we know the great truth that God's favor already rests on us because of what Jesus has done for us, because we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

And that's the basic formula that we need to understand It's a basic formula that Paul is showing us. And as we look at this passage today, we're gonna find three basic truths coming off the page at us today. And the first thing is, is that we're gonna see that we're to stand for the truth and stand as a contrast to those who oppose that truth. Secondly, we see that good works and holiness are to be what marks our lives as Christians. And lastly, we see that this is the reason that Christ came, so that he could set apart a people for himself who would serve him in holiness to his glory.

And so as we come back to Titus, as we come to chapter two this week, we see that just as we saw last week, Paul is concerned with sound doctrine, and we are to stand in that truth as believers. And last week, we saw that there were a group of people, and Paul said this, he said, they claimed to know God, but by their works, they actually denied him. He said that they taught for shame, shameful gain, what they ought not to teach. And now we can see that Titus is to be in opposition to that false teaching.

He is to stand in stark contrast to those false teachers. And as always, this is not just a call on the life of Titus. We are also called to teach what lines up with sound doctrine. We are called to live a life in contrast to what does not line up with the word of God. It will likely be uncomfortable for us. It will not be easy, but it's important that we understand that the truth is not always comfortable. because it would have been far easier for the New Testament church to just compromise on all this stuff.

But through the ages, there have been those who have stood for truth and have ensured that you and I could hear the gospel and believe by faith. They protected this message and it has now come to us and we hear and believe. God used those voices in history past to pass this message down to us. And now we're called to stand as they did. We're called to stand on the sure foundation of God's Word to ensure that not only do we hear and believe, not only us, but also that our covenant children hear and believe the message.

And to those who come after them, that they would hear the faithful proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. We live in a time though where we seem to be more concerned that our children root for the same sports teams as we do than passing on the faith to them. It is often said that we should just let our children decide on their own, but we don't do that with anything else. we need to be sure that we are standing firm and handing down the faith once for all delivered to the saints because what could be more important than that faithful proclamation of the true gospel to those who would come behind us?

Because if it's true, if the gospel is true, and it is, we wanna be sure that we pass it on faithfully. And so we see from this one verse here at the beginning of Titus 2 that we're to stand for the truth of the gospel in the face of those who would distort the truth and teach what does not align with sound doctrine. And as we move on, we see what a life that does this is to look like. We see that sound doctrine leads us to good works and leads us to holiness, there to be the mark on our lives.

And Paul tells us what this should look like for a whole range of people. He has a lot to say regarding the things they do and the virtues that they live by. They are a pretty specific group of instructions for a specific group of people. Now they're not as nearly as specific as we saw in the first chapter of Titus last week when he talked about how elders and overseers were to live, but the goal here is to encourage spiritual discipline and to encourage spiritual growth in specific areas for the people that make up the local church.

And so we see older men are to live as an example to the younger men. They're to have self-control and they're to be sober-minded. And he again is concerned that they be sound in the faith. This example of being faithful to Christ and His gospel is vital and it has to be lived out. They're called to love, they're called to be steadfast, they're to stay strong and not turn to the side from the love that they have for their God and the love that they have for their families. They show young men how to stand their ground.

And then Paul moves on to older women. He said that they should be reverent in how they behave and they shouldn't slander. Those things are commands for all believers, and we have seen that in other parts of the New Testament, but we have a new one here. They're not to be slaves to much wine. Not sure why he went after the older women with that one, but they're not supposed to be slaves to much wine. And it's actually believed that this was actually a problem in that context in Crete at that time. Paul mentions concerns about excessive wine in other parts of the New Testament, but here his language is stronger, and so it must have been a specific concern in Crete in general.

Or perhaps it's a specific issue that he came across as he was in the church in Crete. But the expectations are not just that they will stay away from wine and be reverent. Those aren't the only things he's talking about. They are to teach what is good to the young women by what they do. And as we come to the young women, we come across some language again that we have to be sure we don't mess up. because we can automatically assume certain things about what the words are being used and put them in different contexts than how they were meant.

Now, obviously, I'm not talking about the part about training the women to love their husbands and children or being self-controlled or being pure. We know what I'm talking about. Those things go without saying and we know and understand how those things exhibit God's call on our lives. The issue that we will have in this passage is the next part where it says that they're to be working at home. Now Paul isn't saying here that this is all that they should do. In fact, as the NIV translated, it says that they're to be busy at home.

They're allowed to work outside the home. He's not putting any restrictions on that. What he's referencing here is how the home life of the family is to work. Their lives were substantially harder than ours. There were duties to be done, and the marriage was like a partnership, or they weren't going to survive. Men would likely do the task requiring skills that they were most adept at, and women would do the vital task within the home to make the family and their partnership work. Remember, there were not refrigerators. You couldn't make a quick trip and run up to the food center to get what you needed.

There was not natural gas, there was not electricity. We struggle to understand it because our lives are so easy. But if you've ever read through the Little House on the Prairie books, you can get an idea of what this is about. Now, mind you, that's 1800 years later, but you get the idea from those books. I have mentioned before when I went to the Words of Hope board meeting a while back, I listened to those books just to refresh them. I needed something to do. And what I came out of those books, more than anything, was the partnership between a husband and a wife when things are hard.

You know, they... They didn't have all this stuff without each other. How would their lives have happened? And the same thing comes across here. Paul says, you are partners here. And he's addressing the roles that they play in the home. That's what he's talking about. He isn't suggesting a lack of vocation outside the home for women. He's talking about everyone caring for the needs of the family. And this applies to everyone. Now the other part of the passage we've come up against in Ephesians and Colossians 2, the word submission is here in this passage. Or in the NIV it says subject to their husbands.

And in our context, we've talked about this before, but in our context we see this as being under someone's thumb. It has the context of oppression, but that's not what Paul means. Paul's not suggesting that women are supposed to do whatever they are told or to do whatever someone else demands. This is again in the context of family. And when we go back to Ephesians, the expectation is that husbands are to exhibit sacrificial love for their wives. It's never oppressive. And it's to be mutual love, mutual submission and sacrifice. In other words, for Paul, the Christian marriage involves self-giving, mutual respect, sacrificial love.

And that's what Paul is driving at here. And so as we move on to the younger men, I think, don't we all, men, think we're younger? But we see that they're to be self-controlled. They're to be a model of good works. They should be sound in teaching and have integrity. And you'll notice it seems that Paul has switched his focus back to Titus and his teaching. So Paul must see Titus as a young man. And the call on young men and on Titus is that they need to live good and holy lives so that what they say can't come back to haunt them.

They need to live like they say they believe, and that includes what comes out of our mouths. When we take a stand for Christ in our culture, the same thing will apply for us. Our witness is affected by what we say and by what we do. And now the final instructions we see Paul giving is to slaves. And Paul isn't saying here that slavery is a good thing. Instead, he calls those who are in bondage to live in an upright way in order to show the truth of the gospel to others. And that's the point in all that we've seen here.

In our holy and self-controlled lives. are to show the gospel to the world, that they might hear the gospel, that they might believe by faith and be part of the people of God with us, that we would stand in contrast to a world of disorder, a world of sin and evil. We're to stand in contrast to it, to stand out. And we want to see, we want people to see good works and hear the gospel because the grace of God is for all people. That's our third point today. And Paul isn't saying here that all people receive grace when we see the word all here.

This isn't every person who's ever lived being on the same playing level regarding the grace that they receive from God. What he's saying is that all types of people have received the grace of God. Old men, older women, younger women, younger men, slaves, free, Jews, Gentile, everyone, all people, all types of people receive and have received the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And what we're meant to see here is that we aren't identified by our ethnic group. We're not identified by our social class. We are defined by whether or not we are in Christ.

And this is our chief identity personally. And it's to be our chief identity socially. We are a new people as the people of God. And for that reason, we're called to turn away from ungodliness and worldly passions and turn toward holiness. This is how we stand out in the present age. We're not called to blend in with the world. We're called to stand up and stand out for the sake of the gospel. And we see here very clearly that this is why Jesus came. He gave of himself not only to save us from our sin and to save us, He came to us to purify us and to make us a new people for His own possession.

As the people of God, we are not saved only from death and hell. We have been redeemed from sin. Not only the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin, but also from what sin does to us in our lives. We're free from that garbage that would take us captive. This is what marks us as believers, and it was to make us a people for himself, a people for his own possession. He lays hold of us, he saves us, and we are his people. And like I've said, we're a new people, the people of God.

We are family, God's family. And we're not marked by a particular ethnicity, we're not marked by being in a certain social class, we are marked by being zealous for good works, Paul says. We stand out because we hold to the truth of the gospel and we live our lives in such a way to exhibit the holiness and love of God to our neighbors that they might believe. And as this passage closes out, we see that Titus is called to exhort this. He is to encourage fellow believers to do good works. He's to rebuke those who stand against this with authority.

And even though he's young, he is to understand this truth and not let anyone disregard him. He's to stand on this truth and to continue to live this way, teach it, and stand firm. It's the good news. It's true. It needs to be heard. It's to be proclaimed. It's to be lived. And this is why we look at this passage. To not only hear it, to believe it in such a way that we let it invade our lives and let it impact how we live. And so we find three challenges today as we take this into the world.

And the first is that we need to remember that we're God's people. because we find our identity in so many different things in our modern world. We're fans of a sports team, or we attend a particular school, or maybe we're proud of our ethnic heritage. Those are all great things, all very important things to have in our lives. But is it the most important thing? It's important that we actually see ourselves first and foremost as part of the family of God in Christ Jesus. This defines us and the purpose of it is to unite us and to help us live holy lives together because we don't do this stuff that we're called to do alone.

I think we're so afraid that others will judge us when we tell them we're struggling. But when you're hurting and when you need help, where do you go? You go to family. You go to those who will love you no matter what, and that is what a church family is to be. We're so afraid of judgment, but I believe we can be a family who stands with each other and encourages one another to live a holy life as we turn from sin together. We live in a world where it is unbelievably difficult to be holy.

And so we need each other. We need each other. We need to remember that we are God's people. And so we need to take, secondly, we need to take the commands of God seriously. In love, we need to be encouraging one another as Paul called us to. But we also need to understand what I said before. We can't do this alone. We need to learn from each other and we need to lean on one another. We must also trust in God's Word and the Holy Spirit to guide us because we don't have the power to do this alone.

We need each other. We need God's Word and Spirit to be holy. I know this time of year reminds us of this truth, right? Because chances are we tried something on our own already this year. We've probably already failed on our New Year's resolutions, right? Why? Because we rest on our own power. Now, I can prove this because our purchases, the things we buy, the devices we carry in our pocket, they actually tell on us. They expose how hard it is for us to do this kind of stuff on our own. You see, an online grocer discovered that customers' wine and liquor purchases spike in the first week of February.

Juice cleanse sales drop dramatically at that same time. And in contrast, they see a 15% increase in ice cream and dessert purchases. And we laugh, right? But we know it's true. Listen, it's us. Not only that, but phone apps, you know, they let you check in at certain places. Well, first few weeks of January, people are checking in at the gym. People are checking in, exercising, doing all kinds of things. And guess what? That keeps right on through February, don't you know? No. It drops off in February. They're checking in at fast food joints. In other words, we fail to do what we know is right.

We fail to do what we know is good for us on our own. And we need to trust in God's Word and Spirit. And we need to spurn one another on to holy living together. And lastly, we don't do good work for ourselves. We have been saved in Christ Jesus apart from our works. We don't need to earn favor from God. Instead, we do it to show others the faith and to bring glory to God. We are God's people for this purpose. When we step out to love and serve our neighbor, God is going to use it.

We show the world who God is by living this way, and that way shows hope and peace in a world that doesn't have hope. I said last week that I believe so powerfully that so many of us want to share the faith with someone, but we don't know where to start. And Paul shows us here, it starts with living the Christian life. It starts with confessing where we fail. And letting people know that we have grace and forgiveness when we sin. Because we never know what influence that will have. Because God uses the people, His people.

for his own possession, those people, to knit together a web where we share the gospel to the world. It isn't always just us. We might not see the results, but we may be planting seeds. And I recently heard an excellent example of this truth. It's the story of a man who was raised in a non-practicing Jewish home, and he had this to say about how he came to Christ. He said, Jesus never appeared to me while I lay drunk in a gutter. And yet, looking back on my life, I see that Christ was beckoning me at every turn.

When I was a child, He was there in the kindness of a Christian babysitter and the magic of a Christmas Eve that I spent at her house. When I was a troubled young man contemplating suicide, he was in the voice of a Christian baseball player who gave a radio interview that inspired me to go on. And always, he was in the day-to-day miracle of my marriage, a lifelong romance that taught me the reality of love and slowly led me to contemplate the greater love that was its source and inspiration. Now there's more to this gentleman's story.

but notice the way God used the good works of his people to bring this man to himself. And so we do good works to show the truth of God's love. We believe that we know the love of God because of what Jesus did for us. That's how we know God loves us. It's an actual act in time and space history that shows us God's love. And we don't want to speak about loving the lost and not have it be connect to actual actions. We want our love to be connected to what we do. We want to show that the gospel leads us to love in real, actual, and substantial ways.

Our love for our neighbor is not just an intellectual exercise or an emotional feeling that we have. Just as Christ showed us love. with his actions. We're called to do good works and to love our neighbors. And while we don't know if we will ever see the results ourselves, God will use our good works for his glory. That is a promise you can take to the bank. Trust that truth and live to the glory of God and proclaim the gospel knowing that he is always at work to bring more people into his family. They are the people of His own possession.

They are His, and He calls them to Himself. May we be His instrument to show others the love and mercy and grace of God in Christ. Amen.

Live the Gospel. Show His Grace.

The call to holiness and good works isn’t about earning God’s love—it’s about living as people who already have it.
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