Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Titus 2:11-14 Grace Teaches Me How to Live – Living By Grace Part 2

Titus 2:11-14 Grace Teaches Me How to Live – Living By Grace Part 2

Last updated on: May 31, 2018 at 7:38 pm by Jim Erwin

Titus 2:11-14 Grace Teaches Me How to Live – Living By Grace Part 2 2018-05-31T19:38:21-05:00 Jim Erwin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Titus 2:11-14 Grace Teaches Me How to Live – Living By Grace Part 2

What I want you know today is that you will never outgrow your need for the gospel. The gospel is not like a thing that you set aside once you have received it, so that you can live the rest of your life. It is not something that you say: Now I have the Gospel, my eternal life is secure, I can go on and live the rest of my life. The gospel is not just some ritual you pass through like you might have thought it was at confirmation, so that you can go and do other things in your life. You need the gospel in your life to live.

You will never outgrow your need for the gospel. NEVER!

You need the gospel in your life. You need the good news of Jesus in your life, so that you can live. Grace is there to teach you that need.

When I was nine years old, there was a piano player in the church who taught me how to play the piano. Her name was Grace. So I went to her home every week and learned how to play the piano. I had known some of the basics – what are notes and how to find them on the piano. She taught me the scales that everyone needs to know. After I had mastered the scales that one learns, (why I have no idea, but apparently it helps you play the piano better), then she taught me how to “play by ear.” When you learn to play the piano by hear, there is a certain strategy involved. You learn to memorize the melody. Then there are a set of chords that you learn to harmonize with the melody. When you have learned to play the song by ear, then in theory you can walk up to any piano and play the song without having to read the notes. This can be a handy skill when you don’t have a hymnal available. So Grace taught me how to play the piano by ear – one song at a time. The first song was – “Amazing Grace.” I spent three weeks learning “Amazing Grace.” I was able to master the skill of playing this song by ear. I can still play it today. Here is how it goes.

PLAY AMAZING GRACE ON THE PIANO

Now because I learned to play by ear, I could remember what I was taught, even though I have not touched a piano in years. Grace taught me so well that I could remember what I learned, recall the skill whenever I needed it, and use it at the right time.

The grace of God is the same way. It teaches me in a way that I can remember for my entire life. But what does the grace of God teach me?

The grace of God teaches me to read spiritual traffic lights. In real life, you drive a car and you learn to read a traffic light at an intersection. There is a green light that tells me to go. There is a yellow light that tells me to yield. There is a red light that tells me to stop. Anywhere I go and I see these lights I know what to do with my car. The grace of God teaches me to read spiritual traffic lights:

COLOR ACTION WORD TEACHING ROLE VERSE
Red Stop No Instruct 2:12
Yellow Yield Wait Guide 2:13
Green Go Yes Discipline 2:12-14

STOP – What are we to stop? We are to stop our ungodliness and our worldly desires. We have to learn to say no to these things.

What parts of your life do you need to stop?

YIELD – How am I supposed to yield? When a person yields at a traffic light, the car slows down so that it can let the other cars go. I give up my right to go. I have not yet stopped, but I am giving my rights to the other driver. If I don’t yield, I can stop for the other cars and then I can cause a crash. What causes me to yield? The brakes. The brakes in my life are a form of purification. God is purifying me. He changing me. This is one of the reasons why I never outgrow my need for the gospel. There are parts of my life that I need purifying. What rights do I need to give up to God? What parts of my life do I need to yield to God?

GO – There are times in which I can go. In the case of the Christian, I learn to go do good works.

Now, I don’t do good works to earn my salvation. If I did that, then grace is meaningless. Salvation in Jesus Christ is not earned. I can’t work my way to God. God shares His unmerited favor, His indescribable love is poured out for me without my ability to earn it. But out of this love, I can learn to do good works. My good works prove that I follow God, they do not give me the chance to earn my way to God. When someone sees my good works, they should think of Jesus. This is what God gives me to do. But without the good news of Jesus Christ, I can’t even do these good works. I need the help of the Holy Spirit. I need the grace of God to teach me how to do good works. I can’t do them alone. Because without God I am a reprobate, worthless sinner.

I saw a cartoon this week. I was flipping channels on my last week in the apartment. I turned it to KIKA. On the channel was a cartoon about a monkey and his squirrel friend. They were trying to go to the other side of the street. But they were at a traffic light. They could not understand what the red, yellow, and green lights were for. They saw the cars pass, and then stop. They saw the cars pass and then stop. Just when the squirrel would be ready to take his food across the street to the tree, cars would come. So the monkey watched and then had an idea. He took some pieces of colored paper and a pair of scissors and made three sets of lights. One set was made with just three green lights. The second were all yellow. The third were all red. So he took one direction of lights and made them all red. The second, he made them all yellow. The third, he made them all green. He made the cars stop completely. But the lights never changed. They just stayed red on one side. On another side, they stayed green. On another side they stayed yellow. After some time passed, the drivers became very angry. A policeman was called. He had to explain to the monkey that what he was doing was causing chaos. What is my point?

When you don’t follow the grace of God in your lights, your spiritual traffic lights are going to be messed up. Either you will have everything red in your life, or green in your life, or yellow in your life. When you stop things that you should be doing (good works), and when you go on things you should stop (unrighteousness and worldly desires), and when you don’t yield God like you should, your life is going to be like chaos. Even as Christians, we need the gospel every day of our lives. We need the teaching of the grace of God in our lives. Otherwise, we have chaos. You can have lots of knowledge of God, but little grace of God, and your life will be chaotic, no matter how spiritual you think your Christian life is.

Because the grace of God came at the first coming of Jesus Christ. We follow the spiritual traffic lights that God grace teaches us – so that we can do the good works that He expects us to do. All the while, we wait on the second coming of Jesus Christ.

So there is the grace of God. The good works from God. And finally the glory of God.

Are you looking forward to the glory of God? I am. There is a reason why Paul calls the return of Jesus the blessed hope. The return of Jesus is something to look forward to. It should give us hope in our lives. Why, so that we can do the good works that God has called us to do. The grace of God teaches me the good works. The grace gives me these good works as a reminder of the glory of God that is to come. Does the grace of God teach me something just so that I have some work to do? No. There is a point to it all.

Remember my piano teacher? Why did she teach me to play the piano? Well, first it was so that I would learn to play something correctly and well. Why should I learn to play something co

rrectly? Why should I learn to play a song well? Because at some point, I am going to play this song before other people. No, not necessary in a symphony, not necessarily like Mozart. But I will play this song so that other people can sing. It is the good work that I learn to do with other people. It is called a recital.

At some point in time, I am going to use my newly learned talent before other people. My playing the piano will reflect on the reputation of the teacher who taught me. If I play well, I will get some credit and so will my teacher. If I play poorly, people will boo me off the stage. They will look poorly at my teacher.

So it is with God. I need the gospel in my life. Without it, I am nothing. The grace that gives me the gospel also teaches me during my time on Earth. At some point, at the end of life, there will be a recital before God. The glory of God will shine forever. What I have learned here I will give back to Him. What I learn from Him also reflects to other people. What I do with my life, with the gospel that God gave me, with the good works that the grace of God teaches me, will hopefully point people to God.

I need the gospel in my life to live. The grace of God teaches me so that other people will learn of their need of the gospel of God in their life.

Previous Post

August 27, 2007

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Grace Gives Me Strength - Living By Grace Part 1

Next Post

September 10, 2007 James 5:7-12 Grace Gives Me the Power to Endure

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Chronicles 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Kings 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Chronicles 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John Acts Advent Amos Book Review Colossians Comics Culture Watch Daniel Deuteronomy Ecclesiastes Ephesians Esther Exodus Ezekiel Ezra Galatians Genesis Guest Post Habakkuk Haggai Hebrews Hosea Humor Inspiritational Isaiah James Jeremiah Job Joel John Jonah Joshua Jude Judges Lamentations Lectionary Lent Leviticus Link Love Luke Malachi Mark Matthew Micah Movie Review Nahum Nehemiah Numbers Philippians Political Watch Prophecy Watch Proverbs Psalm Revelation Reviews Romans Ruth Science Watch Sermon Series Sermons Simple Thoughts Song of Solomon Titus Top Ten Uncategorized Video Review Zechariah Zephaniah

Select a Month May 2026 October 2025 September 2025 June 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 January 2022 June 2021 January 2021 October 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2009 June 2008 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 September 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet predicted an outpouring of God's Spirit in the last days?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Micah Daniel Ezekiel Joel