C. S. Lewis on “the God We Think Will Satisfy” us, found in his book The Problem of Pain
:
“What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?” We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves,” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all.”
That sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Why didn’t God create the world that way? If you have had any experience in this world at all, you know that that is not the way things operate. And if you have been paying attention, you will realize that the world is not that way because of evil. There is a dark force in the world that that somehow plagues us. You know it is true, because, just like me, you’ve had to do battle with it. Some people have a better track record than others, at least on the surface it seems that way.
But in the secret places of our hearts and lives, we find that this darkness always has a way of winning the day. That is it did, until Jesus came to in order to deliver us from that very evil.
I didn’t get a chance to finish my sermon yesterday (I know, so what’s new?) So I thought I would wrap it up with my conclusion that I never reached.
The most important verses in Titus 3 are 4 through 7.
Here is Titus 3:4-7 in the New American Standard Version.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
Notice in Vs. 4, how He came after us. As I said yesterday, we may not always be faithful to Him, but He is always faithful to us. It is just a part of His nature, His Holiness and Righteousness. It is just the way God is, He loves you and me, the crowning point of His creation. He will go to any length in order to enjoy our company for all eternity. Even if it means sacrificing His Son on our behalf.
Then beginning in vs. 5 Paul gives us one of the best summations of the “Gospel” in 3 brief verses. In the Greek, it is just one long sentence describing how we are saved from the darkness, and enter into the light.
It is clear that there is nothing good enough in us to merit salvation, so God delivers it to us as a gift. Out of His own deep love for us, He pours out His mercy upon us.
It is described as a “washing“, a deep cleansing if you will, deep enough to penetrate to most darkened soul. And what does God use for His cleanser?
“Regeneration” & “Renewing” these two are mixed together in the most potent way by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Spirit pours it out generously over our lives. Remember in Psalm 23 where David says, “Thou annointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over”. That is what the Father is doing to us. Pouring His cleansing power generously over our lives so that we will have His power in full strength, not only to be saved from past sins, but to be protected from any future darkness that might try to creep back into our lives.
Jesus Christ made this possible when He took it upon Himself to take the punishment for our evil. Hence forth, He is our Savior, the one who pulled us out of the pit of Hell itself. Notice in these verses, the Father, Son & Holy Spirit all play a part in our cleansing that saves us from the darkness.
As a result we stand, not condemned, but justified before God Himself.
That means we have been vindicated and now find ourselves acceptable in His sight. And not just acceptable, but part of His Forever Family.
And what is the result of all this? We become “Heirs” to His Kingdom and His Glory. The darkness, death, and the devil himself, no longer have control over us. In Christ, with the Armor of God, we have the power over him. His desire is to take us home to be with Him for all eternity. Jesus told His followers that He is building a place for them. Can you even begin to imagine that, our Holy Father, building a new Heaven and a brand new pristine world, that He wants to share with us for all eternity.
It doesn’t get any better than that folks.
John Wesley’s comments on verses 5–7 are concise and penetrating.
“In this important passage the apostle presents us with
a delightful view of our redemption. Herein we have,
(1) The cause of it; not our works or righteousness, but ‘the kindness and love of God our Savior.’
(2) The effects; which are,
(a) Justification; ‘being justified,’ pardoned and accepted
through the alone merits of Christ, not from any desert in us, but according to his own mercy, ‘by his grace,’His free, unmerited goodness:
(b) Sanctification, expressed by the laver of regeneration,
(that is, baptism, the thing signified, as well as the outward sign), and the renewal of the Holy Ghost; which purifies the soul, as water cleanses the body, and renews it in the whole image of God.(3)
The consummation of all—that we might become
heirs of eternal life, and live now in the joyful hope of it.
Meditate on those verses and Wesley’s analysis. It is profound! It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a nutshell, the Readers Digest version, the Cliff Notes if you will.
Sunday, I shared with you that we were all a part of the “League of the Guilty”. God is in the business of changing that in our lives. He indeed is Re-making us in ways that we never dreamed. This coming Sunday I want to take you into that dream. I want you to Re-think your world view!
Come Sunday, and dare to Re-think, to catch a glimpse of God’s dream for you and the ones you love.
Veritas pro Christo et ecclesia,
Pastor Mike
