“I am no better than anyone, I am merely forgiven,” is a truth that the Christian cannot lose sight of.
As the apostle Paul draws another of his personal, pastoral letters to a close, I find in Titus 3 one of the most helpful passages balancing the idea of grace and works as regards salvation.
Paul admonishes the believers to be submissive and obedient to authorities, and to be ready for every good work (Titus 3:1). Likewise, he challenges the believers to speak evil of no one and to avoid quarreling, rather they should be gentle and show courtesy to others (Titus 3:2).
Why? Why should believers be kind and courteous rather than speaking evil?
Because apart from the grace of God we are no better.
We ourselves were once hopeless sinners: foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing days in malice and envy and hating others (Titus 3:3).
But God—God intervened. He stepped into our hopeless mess:
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
We were saved 110 percent entirely by the grace and kindness of God that we totally did not deserve, nor will we ever deserve.
Our salvation is not because of our works, or our righteousness. Salvation comes not because of us but in spite of us! As Paul Washer has famously quipped, “We contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary!”
But God in His grace saves us. In mercy He washes us clean. He gives us of His Spirit whom He lavishes upon us, and He grants us a hope for eternal life.
What an awesome God! How kind He is to save us despite the sinners that we were and to some extent still are.
Now, you might say that you were not “that bad.” Probably not by worldly standards, but in comparison to an eternal, holy God it is far worse than we will ever know. Let us remember, the standard is not “better than others,” the standard is the very perfection of God. To miss the bullseye of obedience by a single foot or by a mile is still to miss the standard just the same (see Jas. 2:10).
Perhaps we have not killed or committed adultery. Great! We have still probably been guilty of covetousness which is a part of the very same list. Even more, I am sure we are all guilty of occasionally speaking evil of others (Titus 3:2) even unto this day!
We are more wretched and undeserving than we will ever know yet we are likewise more loved than we can even begin to fathom. Grace is such a scandalous, utterly incomprehensible thing that we cannot even begin to tell the whole.
This same grace, as we saw yesterday, is not only given to save but given to transform.
The apostle makes it so clear that salvation is not by works or personal righteousness, but as soon as he clears that up, he charges Titus to teach these things:
“so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works” (Titus 3:8a, emphasis added).
We are not saved by good works, but for good works!
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
In saving us, God also shapes us. He desires that we might showcase we are His people through the lives that we live. If God has been so kind to us, let us then return kindness to God through our actions day by day until we meet Him in glory.