Advent Words Day 13 ~ Zealous

 

Day 13: Zealous

How does Paul define God’s holy people? As those who are “eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)

The NIV here has lost some of the intensity of the original translation, which is captured better by the NASB and some of the other translations. The NASB says it this way: “zealous for good deeds (works)”. While eager is similar to zealous, it just feels to me like “zealous” has more intensity and impact. The word has more passion.

The dictionary definition of zealous is an intense emotion that compels one to action. When one has zeal, they are devoted, dedicated, have intense enthusiasm, are totally committed. This definitely fits Paul’s intent here in Titus 2:14, that Christ’s people who are His very own would be zealous to do good works.

In the Old Testament the word is most often used in regard to jealousy. Our God is a jealous God. But note its use in Isaiah 9:2-7, the prophecy of the coming Messiah:

“The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.”

God’s plan for a Messiah, a Savior that would bring light, joy, peace, freedom, justice, and righteousness; the one who would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace “awoke the zeal of God” (Charles Spurgeon).

Throughout the Bible we are told of God's unfailing love for His people and His faithfulness in doing what He has promised He will do. God promised a Messiah, a just King who would redeem His people. Commentator Bob Utley says the zeal of God "is the guarantee of its reality". God the Father's intense love and devotion for His people is the motivation for Him to fulfill His promise.

 

During the Advent season we celebrate the fulfillment of that promise in the birth of Jesus Christ. Love came to earth. God was faithful to His people. God's zeal to fulfill His promise of the Messiah calls us to respond in devotion to His Son as those zealous for good works.

 

On the night of his birth an angel declared that our Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born. A host of angels made a zealous response:

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men

on whom His favor rests!

Luke 2:14

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Advent Words Day 12 ~ People

 

Day 12: People

“…and to purify for himself a people that are his very own...” Titus 2:14

We have seen over the past few days that the future gaze of Advent is our hope in “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”. We have seen that His sacrifice is to serve as motivation to live our lives for Christ in this present age, for Paul gives us two reasons that Christ “gave himself for us”.

·        1.“To redeem us from all wickedness.”

·        2.“And to purify for himself a people that are his very own.”

There is a purpose for our being purified (made holy). From beginning to end, the Bible is clear that God desires a people who will be associated with His purpose and promises. A people who are His own, His chosen and holy people, a people who know and enjoy God as their One and Only God.

“I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” Exodus 6:7

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Deuteronomy 7:6

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33

“I will be their God and they will be my people” is the language of God’s covenant. He promises to be our holy God and we promise to be His holy people – a people who live by His ways, who live to please Him.

We see that same covenant language in the New Testament as well.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10

There is an individual component to being the people of God, as each one of us must choose to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior to be counted among God’s holy people. But God’s call here, as in the Old Testament, is that we would collectively be His holy people, to be His Church.

A few verses prior to the above passage in 2 Peter, it says, “As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a royal priesthood, offering sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” 1 Peter 2:4-6.

Peter then goes on in 2 :9-10, “you (also) are a chosen people…”. Just as Christ is chosen as the living Stone, the one risen from the dead, we who believe in Christ are chosen to be God’s holy people. My pastor likes to say, “When you come into a relationship with Christ, you come into the church as well.” The two go hand-in-hand. We belong to Christ, and we belong to the church, and we belong to each other. Together we form the spiritual house of God, His temple. The church is not a building we go to, but the people of God, the body of Christ. It’s important that we who are Christ’s followers, be an active part of a local church in order to be encouraged and built up by our pastors and fellow Christ followers, but also to use our gifts and talents to help be the church in our community. The word “you” in 1 Peter 2:9 is plural in the Greek. Peter is speaking to and of God’s people collectively. In fact, many times in the Epistles when the word “you” is used it is plural. The Epistles were letters written to churches. We have a tendency to read these Epistles as more a letter written to an individual, and there are passages about who we are as individuals and how we are each called to live. But it is also important to know when a command or calling is made to God’s people collectively, as this helps us understand the role we have in living together as a church, as God’s holy people. A few other examples of passages written with plural “you”: Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Corinthians 3:16, Matthew 5:14. We cannot discount that we must follow the commands in the Epistles individually, but we must also not discount the intent that we collectively make up God’s holy people, and therefore, must play our part to be God’s holy people, for we belong to Him.

We are His very own purified people, the chosen, holy, treasured people of God!

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Advent Words Day 11 ~ Purify

 

Day 11: Purify

“…and to purify for himself a people of his very own…” Titus 2:14

To purify something is to cleanse it and make it suitable for holy purposes. This was the purpose of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament. The people would bring their offering, such as a lamb, to the priests who would place it on the altar in the temple and sacrifice it to God. Atonement required blood as the cleansing or purifying agent, in turn cleansing the people of their sin.  So, in the Old Testament we see mention of various cleansing rituals and sacrifice requirements meant to purify God’s people. Unfortunately, over time the religious leaders of the people of God turned the cleansing rituals and sacrifices into laws and rituals that became burdensome for the people.

But God promised that a new covenant in the future would create a better way for them to be purified in order to live as His holy people.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36:25-28

That new covenant is found in Jesus Christ. God offered His Son as the atoning sacrifice, that by His blood we would be cleansed from our sin and be purified, made holy. Through His resurrection from the dead, we received the gift of His Spirit living in us to enable us to live as His holy people.

Christ now acts as our High Priest, He made one sacrifice for all time. “The death he died, he died to sin once for all.” (Romans 6:10) “Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:26-27)

By His blood we are purified. We are made holy in order to serve God. We can therefore enter His presence free from the guilt of sin and full of confidence that we are worthy.

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:14

 

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22

Through His blood we are the holy people of God.

 

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Advent Words Day 10 ~ Redeem

 

Day 10: Redeem

"...Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness" Titus 2:14

 

Yesterday we looked at the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Today we look at the first of two reasons Paul gives us in Titus 2:11-14 as to why Jesus made that sacrifice. To redeem us from all wickedness.

 

From the words of the Lord’s angel to Joseph, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21), to Jesus' own words, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28), we are told that His purpose in life was to redeem His people.

 

In the Greek culture, the word "redeem" was used of buying a slave out of the market for the express purpose of giving him his freedom. The ransom was the amount paid for release from bondage.

 

So, how were we enslaved? The Bible is clear on the source of our bondage.

"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." John 8:34

 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

 

Slavery to sin is spiritual death, causing us to be alienated from God.

"For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23

 

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath."  Ephesians 2:1-3

 

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior." Colossians 1:21

 

How, then, are we redeemed?

"You were bought at a price." 1 Corinthians 6:20

 

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 1 Peter 1:18-19

 

"...and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Romans 3:24-25

 

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace." Ephesians 1:7

 

His God-given call on his life was to redeem God’s people from the curse of sin.

 

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Galatians 4:4-5

 

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

 

Jesus Christ is our Great Redeemer. He paid the price for our sin with His own blood, thus buying our freedom and reconciling us to God. We, the redeemed, are now servants of God.

"...Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness" Titus 2:14

 

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness… But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Romans 6:18-19, 22

We have been set free from the bonds of sin to purify God as His people, the second reason for Christ’s sacrifice, which we will dig into tomorrow.

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Advent Words Day 9 ~ Sacrifice

 

Day 9: Sacrifice

“…while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:13-14

The greatest gift we could ever receive, salvation made available to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, should grip our hearts and motivate us to live for Him in every way. His sacrifice is expressed in the words of Titus 2:14 “who gave himself”.

That sacrifice was a work of both the Father and the Son. The Father sacrificed the son he loved.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son…” John 3:16

“He [God the Father] who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all…” Romans 8:32

The Son sacrificed first, some of the privilege and position he had a right to, and then his very life.

“Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8

[Jesus Christ] “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Galatians 1:4

The word “gave” implies a few things. First, it implies willingness. Christ willingly and voluntarily gave himself. God willingly gave his Son. Both made the sacrifice motivated by love.  We already saw this in John 3:16; it was because God so loved the world that he gave up his son.  But elsewhere we are told of this great motivation as well.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16

The word “gave” also implies that this sacrifice was a gift. We do nothing to earn it. It is freely given by the gift-giver. We looked at this when we looked at grace on day 2. Christ’s sacrifice for us is a gift of God’s grace.

Our passage shows us there are two reasons for Christ’s sacrifice:

·        To redeem us from all wickedness.

·        To purify for himself a people that are His very own.

We will look at these two reasons in detail in the days ahead. But for now, the last thing we need to see about Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf is our call to view the sacrifice of Christ as both a model and a reason to live a life of sacrifice as well.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

As I said in the beginning of this post, this gift, this sacrifice of God on our behalf, should grip our hearts and motivate us to live our life for Christ. This is our call to grow in Christ’s likeness and to live as He did, a life of love and sacrifice. We must continually look at this gift with gratitude and respond with willing obedience. As Jesus did.

He died for our sake; we live for His sake.

 

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