Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Titus 3:4-7
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 24, 2023

I watched the classic Charlie Brown Christmas Special again last week. If you haven’t seen it it in a while, perhaps you remember that Charlie Brown is frustrated with how commercialized Christmas has become. This was first shown in 1965! I can’t imagine what Charlie Brown would say today! He’s frustrated that Snoopy is in a Christmas decorating contest. He’s frustrated with the lack of attention that the kids pay to him while he tries to direct the Christmas play. He tries to get everyone in the proper mood by buying a Christmas tree, but everyone just laughs at the pathetic tree he brings. Finally, he becomes so frustrated that he says, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”  

How would you answer that question? To help us answer that question this Christmas Eve, I’m actually going to give you the answer to another question. The answer is, Not Because of You, Because of Him. As we ponder these four verses from Titus chapter 3, hopefully we’ll figure out the question that will tell us what Christmas is really all about.

We first learn about Titus from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Paul had met Titus in Antioch and had first taken him along when he went with Barnabas on his missionary journey. As Paul’s journeys grew, Titus’ role seems to have increased. Paul sent him ahead to Corinth to help with the problems in that congregation. Later, after Paul’s first imprisonment, Paul and Titus ended  up on the island of Crete. Paul left Titus there to complete the organizing of the church. This was not an easy assignment. Paul describes the situation in Crete in chapter one of his letter to Titus. He says,  “For there are many who are rebellious, whose words are empty, and who deceive,… One of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true.” In other words, the Cretans were about as hopeless a cause as there could be!

If we’re honest, we could put ourselves right there with the Cretans. And so what Paul has to say applies perfectly to us as well. He says in verse 3, “For at one time we ourselves were also foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by many kinds of evil desires and pleasures, living in malice and jealousy, being hated and hating one another.” A quick look in the past led Paul and Titus to identify with those Cretans. Paul says that he and Titus were just as much of a hopeless cause. So, what becomes necessary in a hopeless and helpless situation? It’s a rescue, isn’t it? If you’ve ever slid off an icy road into the ditch, you know what I’m talking about. The snow just makes the tires spin. And unless you’ve got a bunch of people with you, you’re not pushing that car out of the ditch. You need someone to rescue you. It’s the complete inability to get out of a situation that requires someone else to rescue them. Is there a better description of someone who needs a rescue than the one Paul gave to the Cretans and then later to himself and Titus and us? 

When you really think about it, what is more pitiful than human beings, spiritually? Created so perfectly and yet so foolish as to venture out on their own and get themselves into the bind of sin–a truly deadly predicament. When you were born into this world, you were a pitiful creature. You may have been a perfectly healthy baby in the eyes of the doctors and your parents, but you were spiritually pitiful in reality. You were born in a ditch of sin and no matter how hard you tried, you would never be able to push or pull yourself out–even with a million acts that you may have considered good; completely unable to help yourself…completely in need of someone to rescue you. 

And yet, it’s not because of you. The answer to our question is Not because of you, because of him. Rescue was needed by us, there’s no arguing that. Foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved, hated, and hating–it’s a list that just makes you cringe. Rescue was necessary. And on Christmas, God rescued us!    “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared…He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” God’s kindness and love appeared. How is that possible? Kindness and love are traits that cannot be seen. But at Christmas, God made them seen by taking on human flesh. Jesus made God’s kindness and love visible. When Mary and Joseph and the shepherds looked at Jesus that first Christmas, they were seeing God. Every single thing that Jesus did in his life–every thought, every word, every action–displayed God’s kindness and love, because he did them for us. But the answer to the question is Not because of you, because of him. I don’t think we’ve quite discovered the question yet. 

The very observant of you probably noticed that I left out a couple phrases when I read from Titus 3 just a few seconds ago. I did that intentionally. Listen to just those words I left out. “Not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of his mercy.”  And there it is, isn’t it? There’s the answer we’ve been working with. Not because of you, because of him. However, in an effort to make the translations more readable, most English translations have smoothed out the translation so much that we lose the emphasis that Paul makes here. I’m going to literally translate it so that we can hear with our own ears what Paul is emphasizing. He says, “Not because of works of righteousness which we, we had done.” Paul didn’t have to say “we” twice. But he wants to emphasize the “we.” He also wants to emphasize the “not.” He puts the “not” right up front. NOT because of works of righteousness which WE had done. It’s not because of us. It’s not because of you. It’s not because of anything we had done. No, it’s because of him. It’s because of his mercy. Mercy is one of those little big Bible words that we use often, but perhaps find difficult to describe. Mercy is provoked by something that is truly pitiful. A starving child provokes mercy. A family that has lost everything in a fire provokes mercy.

Now let’s put those words back in their context. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, he saved us—not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs in keeping with the hope of eternal life.” Not because of you, because of him! Did you figure out the question? If not, I’m going to tell you now. The question is “Why did God save you?” Not because of you, because of him. God saved you through baptism, not because of you, but because of him–because of his overflowing love for us–pathetic creatures that we were. Pathetic creatures that we were. Ah, but we are no longer pathetic creatures in God’s eyes. Notice our lesson begins with that little word, “but.” It denotes a change here–a change in us. How did Paul describe us earlier? “For at one time we ourselves were also foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by many kinds of evil desires and pleasures, living in malice and jealousy, being hated and hating one another.” But that’s not you any more. Let me say that again…that’s not you anymore. You are no longer a slave. You are an heir. You are a blood bought relative who on account of your ancestry is receiving something that someone else worked for. We have done nothing to earn eternal life. Jesus did that for us. Not because of you, because of him. He is the innocent one. He is full of perfection. We were guilty. We were hated. We were empty.

But when the water of baptism poured over your head, the Holy Spirit took everything that Jesus did for you and poured it over you–filled you up with it. You were a container empty of anything good. And the Holy Spirit poured into you every good thing that Jesus was and is so that you are now full of perfection–Christ’s righteousness which you inherited from him. Baptism is the washing of rebirth. You were born in sin. In baptism, you have been born again in perfection. It is the washing of renewal. A new you emerged that day. A new you that is the complete opposite of the old you. It is a complete and total change for the better. And today is when it all started, when it all began. Today is when God sent his Son to save us. 

As you celebrate Christmas today, remember how your rescuer saved you. See in his Word how God’s grace and mercy went into action to rescue helpless you. Remember how he’s changed you. When you see in yourself the echoes of what you used to be–when you feel anger, when you don’t feel like obeying, when you feel the tug of passions and pleasures that God has said are displeasing to him, hold up your baptism to those temptations and say, “That is what I was.” But Jesus, my Savior, has rescued me. I’m now his child and heir. Remember this Christmas why God saved you. It’s not because of you, because of him. Amen