Adorn the Doctrine of God

Good morning. We're continuing through Titus. And as we approach this section here on how we are to live in the world and at work, I want to talk about C.S. Lewis's, one of his lesser read but extremely important works, The Abolition of Man. If you have not read it, I highly encourage you to do so. As we look back at it for a moment, you'll see that it's very prophetic for many things that are happening today. C.S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man, he has a warning because of the way he saw what he called the Little Green Book. He didn't want to name the book, but it was a grammar book for children, and how they were phrasing sentences. The sentences turned from, that is a blissful waterfall, to, I feel like that is blissful. There's a turn from objective truth and goodness to how I feel about those things. He talks about how this is going to create men without chest. In the Roman world, the chest is the place where virtue resided. Virtue that would recognize what is good and be willing to fight for what is good and protect it and promote what is good. And as he considered this slight little turn in 1942, the slight turn from the objective reality of goodness to just what I might feel is good, he was concerned. Because in 1941, London had just received from Germany the Blitz, the constant bombing. And the warning was this, that if we did not teach children to have virtue, to recognize what is good, they're not gonna fight for what is good. You have a culture, you have a society of men without virtue. Warning here is if we do not train our children to recognize what is good, they will not be willing to promote and protect what is good. If we are not convinced that there is a good and that we should recognize it, we ourselves are not going to be ready to promote and protect it. Church, that was a warning from C.S. Lewis regarding just the natural law, the idea that all peoples that recognize some kind of good, that there is some good in the world worth fighting for, How much more should we, who have received God's Word, know there's a real good? You open the first chapter of the Bible, and what's the repeated word? Good. Six times. Good. What God created was good. What God created was good. What God created was good. What God created was very good. Well, we can go to Matthew 7, and Jesus makes it clear. If you ask your earthly fathers, who are evil, that is born in sin and sinful for things, are they not going to give you good things? If you ask for a piece of bread, will they give you a rock? How much more would your good Heavenly Father give you every good gift? James 1.17, every good and perfect gift comes down from our Father, God. And then the real practical point of Romans 12 21. These are just some highlights of goodness in scripture. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. We live in a world that doubts real goodness. What we have from God's Word, what is good, and we as a church need to make sure that we are first and foremost holding firm to what he's declared as good. protecting it, promoting it, and proclaiming it. So what is good? Well, Titus has a number of just key words and phrases. We've talked about sound doctrine and good works, teaching and godliness. We've looked at self-control, a repeated word. We're gonna see submission as a repeated word. Well, good is a repeated word. Turn with me to Titus. And I just wanna walk through the different references to the word good. As Paul calls Titus to put the church in order, he's supposed to recognize the right kind of leaders, and one of the qualifications for a leader is verse 8, chapter 1 verse 8, he's a lover of good. His affections are on what God has said is good. If you look down, in contrast to the false teachers that will be silenced, chapter 1 verse 16, They're unfit for what is good, because their hearts are corrupted. Chapter 2 verse 3, older women are to be teachers of good. Chapter 2 verse 10, bond servants are to show good faith. Chapter 2 verse 14, Christ's church is to be zealous for good works. Chapter 3 verse 1, Christ's church is to be ready for every good work. Then chapter 3 verse 4, the second great gospel declaration we're looking at next week. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. That's the same as the grace of God that appeared in last week's section. When the goodness of the good God appeared to bring good salvation. Why? Chapter 3 verse 8. so that his church would be devoted to good works. And one last time in case we've missed the point, chapter three, verse 14, be devoted to good works. God is good. His goodness has appeared in salvation. And now he calls us to love what is good, to teach what is good, to be devoted and zealous for good, to be ready. If you're looking for a one-sentence statement that would summarize the text here this morning, glorify our good God with devotion to His good works. Glorify our good God with devotion to His good works. Last week we primarily looked at verses 11 to 15. I skipped over 9 and 10. We're going to do this whole section. Because really 9 and 10 and then 3, 1 and 2, it's looking outward. He's already told Titus to make sure you're sound in your speech so that those who want to oppose you would not have any reason to speak evil of you. That could be the false teachers. Could be those from outside. But here he's talking to the bondservants and how they relate to their masters. And then all of us and how we're going to relate to our ruling authorities and to everybody. It's an outward-looking faith. If you're taking notes, we're going to see God's grace saves. God's grace trains. Yes, those two are repeated from last week, but man, those texts are so good, it's worth repeating. God's grace at work. And then God's grace for my neighbors. It is a gospel that is to be lived publicly at work, in society, at church, in the home, in all places, at all times. Let's look at the first point. And again, this is just reminding us of what we looked at last week. God's grace saves. Verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared. God has always been gracious. His common grace has been for all people at all time. He gives rain for the good and the wicked, for Israel and the other nations. He's always providing goodness in his common grace. But also he's given special grace. He's made promises to Adam and Eve, and to Noah, and to Abraham, and to Moses, and to David. But God's grace has appeared. That's, that's God taking on flesh. As Jesus Christ being born of a virgin to come to be like us in every way, yet without sin, so that he would become sin for us. That's what's new. And notice it brings salvation for all people, all kinds of people. No matter the age, no matter the nationality, no matter the gender, all people, if they place their faith in Christ, will be saved. One of the main things we need to look at is, what was Jesus' purpose in coming? If you look at 13, we know that he will appear again, but verse 14 tells us his purpose. Jesus gave himself. That is the gracious gift. Grace is undeserved gift, but the gift itself is Jesus, who gave himself to redeem us, to deliver us from lawlessness, to purify for himself a people for his own possession. We belong to Christ because he bought us with his own blood. Well, how did he redeem us? How does He purify us? Well, we simply look back and we look at the cross. He who is like us in every way, yet without sin, died as if He had committed all our sin. He was judged by God the Father as if He had committed every sin we have spoken, thought, done. On the cross we see God's perfect love. The Father did not spare His own Son. Jesus is willing to lay down His life. There is no greater love than this. We see God's perfect love on the cross in that He has set His affection on the people who are unlovely and said, I will die for you to save you. We see His perfect justice because no sin will go unpunished. He has to exercise His righteousness and bring wrath on all sin. And there, in Christ, we see that He does punish every sin. But for those who believe in Jesus, we're not punished for our sin. Jesus is. And third, we see His perfect power. There is no sin that God cannot overcome. There is no sin that God cannot overcome. If you're thinking, no, how could it be? You don't know what I've done. You have no idea what kind of sinner I am. Jesus himself comes to Paul, who's killing Christians, those he loved and died for. And he calls him to believe. We see God's perfect power to save every kind of sinner. What do we do? We believe in Jesus. We place our faith in Him who has done all that we need to save us, to take us out of our lawlessness, to purify us. If you're not a Christian this morning, you have to believe in Jesus. It is the only way. You know your heart. You know how uncontrollable it is. And you know how uncontrollable the tongue is. You know how uncontrollable your sin is. The only thing that can purify, and wash, and forgive is Jesus Christ, and belief in Him. And He will send His Spirit, and He'll start washing, and renewing, and regenerating, and giving new life. But you must believe in Jesus. And that just means you profess Him as your Savior. I am a sinner. Jesus, I want to believe in You as my Savior. Help my unbelief. Remember the gospel of Jesus Christ has five actions. He came, He died, He rose, He is ascended, and He will come back. That's why the grace that saves, you have to remember verse 13, we are a people waiting for our blessed hope. What a fantastic phrase. I encourage you to memorize 11 to 14. But that phrase, that easy load ammunition that needs to be on your mind, on your heart, to remember all the disappointments in this world, all the disappointments in this world, this world wasn't meant to satisfy you. We're still waiting for God's real blessing. Peter reminds in his letter that we're elect exiles, aliens, strangers. Reminded by Paul in numerous places. Our citizenship isn't here. Our primary citizenship is in Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom of God. We're called to rejoice with the angels to the God who's worthy of praise. What are we longing for? Is this truly where we see the blessing that we're longing for and the hope that is to come when Christ returns? Are we preparing ourselves to be ready for when that trumpet sounds, that we're ready to hear it and rejoice for what He'll do and purify us? God's grace saves. It's what He does for us. The second thing we see here is God's grace trains. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, Verse 12, training us to renounce the things that defile us, to renounce the things that make us impure, to renounce the very desires of our heart, the things that seem closest to us, the most right sometimes, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. We see this throughout Scripture. God, He doesn't just forgive us of our sin, and then just expect us to keep sinning. He forgives us so that we would be transformed. The whole Gospel is, we are forgiven. We're being transformed, and we will be glorified. Christ's purpose is to renew us. Training. Just like we do with our physical health. What we eat. What is our diet? What do we practice? One of the most terrifying things is what we practice is what we're getting better at. What are we prioritizing? Titus 3.8 tells us that the goodness of God has appeared so that we can be devoted to good works. What is our health like in our families? In our work? In our neighborhood? Christian, what is your devotion? Wednesday afternoon, the group of us that are studying those qualifications for elders because they're for maturity, we looked at 1 John 3 this past week. It's a challenging passage because it declares, if you keep on sinning, you do not know Him. Verse 9, no one born of God practices sin. Jesus came so that we could stop practicing. Jesus came so we could put on Christ as we put off sin. Jesus came so that we could renounce sin, so we could actually live in the grace of God. We need to grow up in Christ, and that takes effort. Now to the things that are new, we're going to be looking at how that gospel, that gospel that saves, the gospel that trains, the gospel that tells us there's still something to come, Jesus Christ in his glory, well how does that affect us at work? The gospel at work. Let me read verses 9 and 10. Bond servants, they are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They're to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior." If you look at this greater context, we see that the order of the church begins with the right men who have the right qualifications, the right desires, the right life, and they're able to teach, and they're able to first silence those who are corrupting good doctrine and unfit for good work, and then it says, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the gospel truth that we just meditated upon, 11 to 14. God's grace has appeared to train us, to save us. We're waiting. Well, what accords with that? Well, the quality, the character, and the conduct, self-control, and teachers of good, and self-control again, and well, self-control again, and self-control again. And then it gets to bond servants. And this was different because it's telling you how to function, how to act, how to live outside of the church. The gospel affects home and work. This section shows how the whole body is put together in sound doctrine to be ordered according to God's work. And now we're looking at bondservant. Now, let's be very clear. Bondservant, that's one of the three classes in Roman society. Paul has already used this word in chapter 1, verse 1. Paul the servant. Same word. He himself has declared he is a bondservant to Christ. And now he's going to address the society's bondservants. There are three classes in Roman society. There are nobles, the middle class, and then servants. Servants were about 70% of Roman population. The servants were considered the property of their masters. Some servants were volitionally tied to a master. You might do this in order to get a higher standing in society because you might be a tutor for the children. That would be something you would indenture yourself to as a servant. Sometimes it's volitional, a choice. Oftentimes these were prisoners of war. They were put into service. This is not like the transatlantic slave trade that our country knows. It wasn't race-based in that same way, but it still wasn't good. It still isn't treating every human being as an image bearer with the same dignity, honor, and virtue. Now, some have complained that Paul, nor Jesus, calls for a revolution against slavery. What do you think about this? Paul does not say we need to overturn this system that denies the dignity of every human being, equal. Neither does Jesus. Rather, he calls them regularly to submit, to obey. We see it in Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Peter, and here. the churches to submit to governing authorities, the churches to be a witness of Christ, the churches to be a new kind of people or a new nation, and servants are called to submit or obey to masters. Well, why didn't Jesus promote the call to a social revolution for slavery, against slavery? I think the clue, he doesn't tell us why he doesn't, but the clue might be here. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. I think that's the clue. He didn't come to change everything of this world's patterns. He came to overcome this world by bringing us salvation for all people who believe in him. And he came to bring us salvation that would then create a little microcosm of the kingdom. We call it church. He didn't come to overthrow the different governing authorities. Remember, that's the kind of king the disciples wanted that Jesus keeps rebuking them for. They couldn't understand a king who would die. A Messiah who would die. Jesus' plan for this world is that the gospel will be proclaimed throughout the world. Jesus' plan is for the church to be where His kingdom principles are seen. That's important. He doesn't call for a social revolution of the nations. He calls for the people of God to be a different kind of people. The different kind of classes that are in society, they should not separate us in the church. That's what we should be most concerned about. That was actually what made the church so appealing in the first century. That it was the one place where the different classes would come together and share a meal together. People were wondering, what kind of people are these? It was adorning the gospel of God by embracing one another, because the one thing they had in common was Christ, and that made them equal brothers and sisters in the household of God. We see this very powerfully in Paul's letter to Philemon regarding the servant Onesimus. He says, he was once not helpful for you, but now he is, and he is your bondservant, but even more so, he is your beloved brother. The church is where we need to recognize we are one and uniquely united together in Christ. We'll think about this more this evening as we think about the image of God. So Paul talks about bond servants. He's addressing those who are working, and we're just gonna go and apply this to employee. We're gonna apply this to those who have contracts, who are serving others as employees. Notice the call bond servants, they are to be submissive to their own masters and everything. We see this word again, submissive. It's repeated just like self-control. The Christian life cannot be lived without submission. It's repeated over and over again throughout Scripture. If there's not a humility to submit, there's not a Christian life. Well, submission, it's a posture. It's seeking to honor with actions, words. It's a disposition. Now here, the bond servants are submissive to those who are their masters, and that makes sense. Not to argue. Now it does say, in everything, and sometimes everything means everything, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think it does here. Let me apply a principle. Jesus says, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Yeah, give to Caesar what is his. Every human authority has a certain right. And so you do give a governing authority a tax, but you don't give him worship. If your governing authority has declared that you're to do or not to do something that God has made very clear, you don't obey. So if a master tells the servants, we're all now going to bow down before these idols, well, You say, no, I can't do that. But here in the area of work, in the area of living in the household of this master, everything, you should be seeking to obey whatever he does or whatever he commands, as long as it doesn't contradict the Word of God. Every human authority is subject to God's authority. Let's look at this. What else does he say? They're to be well-pleasing. They're to do what is good. A servant should be trustworthy. The same word here is from Romans 12, 1. We are to be a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. There's a way in which in work we should be so trustworthy that every time the boss shows up, or your supervisor shows up, he expects to see you at work. When he walks away, he knows you'll be working faithfully. There's a way in which you're so trustworthy and diligent that you're a model employee doing your work. Notice he then gives two prohibitions. Well, things that aren't well-pleasing, well, that's arguing. Arguing with your master. No, I want to do it this way. No, I don't think I should do that. It's assisting your own opinions. Not stealing. Taking from the employer. Time stealing is dangerous. Then he gives another positive. Show good faith. The boss should be confident he can leave you alone and that you'll do your job because you're not actually doing it for his well-being. You're doing it because there's a boss, there's a master, there's a Lord who's watching, who's always watching. It's God. The principle of Coram Deo. We need to embrace this. We're always doing our work before the face of God. He is the one who is always watching, who we will have to give account to for everything we've done, good or bad. We should be showing good faith. Well-pleasing, because we're not actually working for the pleasure of the Master himself, but we're working for the pleasure of God. And so here I want to remind us of the Protestant work ethic. Something Luther, one of his major contributions, was to declare every vocation is a calling. Every job is an opportunity to glorify God. They have become this unhealthy separation of sacred work, of priests and nuns and monasteries, and then the irreligious work of baking or accounting, whatever it may be. And listen, no, every job on this earth is a calling from God. It can be used for God. Every vocation is a calling that when we look at it, we can say, I can glorify God through my work. It is good. We can look at Genesis 2 before the fall. Work was commanded. Work is good. It's just now frustrated. Work is a stewardship. It's recognizing that God has given us abilities. God has given us responsibilities. And we're doing those things as well as we can with excellence for his glory. Here's actually Luther's real contribution. It's not that work is what we do. It's but what God does through us. It's not what we do, it's what God does through us. And so as we think about our work, if you're a student, if you're a teacher, if you labor with your hands, if you labor at a computer, what is your work? Are you recognizing that God is using you to bless your neighbor? Because God doesn't need our work, our neighbor does. Work is a stewardship. God has given it to us. We're to use it for the betterment of others. A few questions to think about as you think about work. Maybe even, should you take a new job? Should you look for a job? As you're pursuing other work, what kind of questions should you be asking? First, am I able to provide for my family? Notice it's not how rich will I get. Work is meant to provide for your family. Will this work actually meet the needs of those who depend upon me? It isn't, can I make as much money as possible? Am I able to provide for my family? And if you're going to ask about what happens beyond that, Paul makes it very clear. Work with your hands. Stop stealing. Work with your hands until you have something to give, not take. So, am I able to provide? That's the first question. Two, am I able to make a meaningful contribution to society? Is what I'm going to do going to help others? Or is it just for my own self-satisfaction and self-consumption? Is what I am doing, is it going to help others? What kind of contribution do I make to the world? And third, am I being a good steward of the gifts God's given to me? Work as stewardship. We want to make it about ourself and our own self-satisfaction and what we get out of it, but the work is for the glory of God as God is working through us to bless others. Work is important. It's sacred. And we see the importance of work with the purpose. This purpose statement is so clear and helpful. You are to be submissive in everything. to showing all good faith, notice how absolute these are, so that in everything, underline, so that, there's a purpose clause, so that in everything they, the bond servants, the workers, may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. God is described like this in Titus 1.3. Here, Titus 3.4, God, our Savior, He who saved us, calls us to adorn His doctrine. Now, what kinds of things do you adorn? Well, we're coming up on that season where we're all gonna get a tree, and we're gonna adorn it. What are you gonna adorn it with? Well, lights, ornaments. You're gonna adorn it. Why would you adorn the tree? Because it's kind of boring otherwise, right? It's just a green tree. All right, some people here have come adorned. There's makeup, there's jewelry, styling gel. We adorn things that need a little help. That wasn't supposed to be that funny. I could get in trouble for that later. But we take things that aren't as attractive as we want them to be and we adorn them. We take it and we try to make it more beautiful. Notice, we're called to adorn the doctrine of God. This kind of adorning is different. Why? You can't make it more beautiful. It is beautiful. We cannot improve upon the doctrine of God. No, His beauty is meant to be protected and proclaimed. It doesn't need plastic surgery. It doesn't need accessorized. It needs proper proclamation and practice, fitting for it. Any attempt to make Jesus more attractive is outright idolatry. Making something we like more or something our culture is saying to take away what Jesus said or add to it, to make it more attractive, it's idolatry. It's not worshiping Jesus. We adorn the doctrine of God by making our words, thoughts, patterns, actions, desires align more with the doctrine. We live it out. We can see this. Paul tells Timothy, encourage women to adorn themselves with modesty. Good works. Peter tells women to adorn themselves not externally, but internally. Revelation says, he saw the bride prepared, adorned for her husband. We put on Christ-likeness. We're changed to become more beautiful. In Ephesians, Paul says Christ loved the church, and he beautifies her by washing and purifying. We're to be more beautiful. We're to be more adorning the daughter of God as we are seeking to be transformed and trained by the gospel. At work, our lives should not be a deterrent for those who hear the gospel. Charles Pershing said he thinks that's the greatest danger of evangelism, is that the lives of those at work, whether they be cheating, lying, or lazy, that they would not be adorning the doctrine. And so when they would hear the gospel from these folks who are not living the gospel, it would not be attractive. Coworkers should see the behavior. And then when they hear the good news, they're to recognize that's what's so different. Adorned the doctrine of God. That means we embrace the truth, what it expects of us, and we live accordingly. Here's the key question. What kind of beauty catches your eye most easily? Well, what kind of beauty are you pursuing? Let me ask a little bit more of a practical question. How much time did you prepare your external appearance versus your internal disposition to be ready to hear a word from God and rejoice greatly in Him, and to encourage somebody else. We can all give a great external appearance. It's easy. But that internal preparation, to come ready to sing His praise, to come ready to encourage. The reason we gather is to stir one another up. How much time was spent preparing your heart, your mind, your soul, so that when you see others, you're ready to give? That's too uncommon, because we're a consumer culture. No, we come ready to give. If you want a prayer regarding work, Psalm 90, a prayer of probably the oldest song, Song of Moses, a wisdom psalm, the last two verses. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. The gospel at work, the gospel that saves, the gospel that trains, the gospel at work, the gospel that we adorn with our behavior, our actions, our work. Now the gospel and society. The gospel for our neighbors. There are three basic commands that should guide us as we think about our relationship to the world. There's lots of one-another commands in Scripture. That's how we relate to one another as a church. There's three basic commands when it comes to relating to the outside world. Well, the first is love your neighbor as yourself. That's kind of an overarching one. That's a big one that is based upon we are all made the image of God. That's why you love your neighbor as yourself. That really captures that command in James, consider the vulnerable like the widow and the orphan. Love your neighbor is the big one. The second one that's precise, submit to your governing authorities. specifically pay your taxes. We're to be moral citizens. And again, that's actually a way of loving your neighbor, but it's very precise. All citizens should be paying their taxes, but Christians are commanded specifically to recognize that those who are ruling over us are from God. We're to submit to them, honor them. The third command, which is uniquely Christian, make disciples. That's your ultimate goal. Make disciples. Proclaiming Christ, being a good citizen, loving your neighbor, adorning the doctrine of God that saves. Make disciples. Here we're gonna see some very simple commands for really what it looks like to submit to our rulers and to love our neighbor so that we might actually make disciples of this world. Look at chapter three, verses one and two. Remind them that as a church to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Well first we see the Christian life again. We have submit. Now here, it isn't just bond servant to their own masters, it's the entire church, every Christian individual, is to be submissive to rulers, to emperors. We must recognize it's good. We might be tempted to say, I cannot submit to that governing official because I don't respect him. Well, if we trust the words of Jesus, God puts every king in his place. No one has a position of authority unless God gives it to him. And we don't decide which person in authority is worthy of submission and honor. We recognize that God is worthy of all submission and honor. And when he puts a man in power, we are to submit to him. We don't get to choose. We don't have that right. Now Paul's talking about the Roman government. They weren't voted in officials. He's talking about the Roman government. The same government that crucified God. When Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman leader of that region, Jesus reminds him, you could not do anything unless God gave you this authority. You see, Saul, before he's a Christian, he stands by and allows Stephen to be martyred. The Roman government is going to martyr Paul and Peter. I've been reading the account of Perpetua the last couple weeks. The first woman writer of Christianity. She was martyred in 203. She gives the account, and it's remarkable. She has this vision, this dream, and it makes it clear to her that her battle isn't against Rome, it's against Satan. So she has nothing to fear as she goes into the Colosseum to be ravaged by a cow and then killed by a swordsman. She has nothing to fear. It's remarkable to look back at the saints who faced real persecution. It's remarkable to look at the saints today who face real persecution. It's challenging. We're all too comfortable as Christians. God calls us to endure, to be steadfast. And here the idea of God being in complete control of every king is why we know we can submit to these rulers. It's the same rulers that Psalm 2 tells us. Rage against God's anointing. They're against God's election. But we can submit to them as much as they command us that isn't against God's Word. Because we really know God's in control. So submit to them. Every ruler, every authority, whether it be national, state, local. It's a posture of obedience. We go on. He speaks more broadly, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. There's a way in which we want to be good citizens at good work for the well-being of society. Verse 2 gives a larger context. It's not just to the governing authorities, but he's speaking of everybody. Now it's how we relate to all our neighbors. Notice the first thing is speak evil of no one. This is the same word we get blaspheme from. Blaspheme is when your words do not speak of God or represent God properly. Slander is when we use words that do not represent other men properly, human beings. Speak evil of no one. Notice that qualification. No one means, it's a very important Greek word, it means no one. Gossip, slander, blasphemy. speaking things that you would not say in front of them, saying things that are unbecoming, saying things that are derogatory. Stop it. It does not adorn the doctrine of God. I fear that's what the world thinks of the church, the gossip center. Is that what makes the church attractive? If you join, we'll talk about you. Slander is to be stopped. If you hear gossip or slander, your job is to stop it. You do not hear it. You do not listen to it. The second thing, avoid quarrels. Well, we heard earlier when Pat read James 4, what causes quarrels? It's very important. It's our own passions within us. It's our own coveting. We get angry when we don't have, we don't ask God, so we fight for it. James goes so far as to call them adulterous people. Avoid quarrels. How? By being trained to deny those ungodly passions. Be gentle. That means not harsh, not sharp, not prickly. It's how Jesus identifies himself. Come to me, I am gentle and lowly. This is what a mature believer looks like. Harsh reveals a lack of humility. Reveals immaturity. This last phrase is interesting. Show perfect courtesy toward all people. Some absolutes there. Perfect courtesy. The word courtesy has the idea of humility. There's a way in which you're constantly submitting to others and showing humility to others so that you're giving to them. You're caring for them. This is the Good Samaritan. All people. There again is no qualification there. Every human being is made in the image of God. So all people. Perfect courtesy is care. Considering others more important than yourself. Christian, this is a high calling. Because the gospel that we want to adorn with our lives requires the words of the gospel and should be seeking to have our actions, our behavior adorn that gospel. This is a high calling because as we're proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, we should be living out the truths that adorn that gospel. We are to endure attacks and help those who are under attack. The whole reason for this is to be a witness. Notice Paul is going to say next, we were foolish, disobedient. We were like those Cretans who were liars, gluttons. We were like that. But the goodness and kindness of our God appeared to save us. If you look back at chapter 2 in the bigger picture, 1 to 8, Well, that's the internal work of the church. How we're supposed to grow up as older men, younger men, older women, younger women. How we care for one another. Bond sermons. That's how you go out into the workplace and be a witness. Here, I believe, he's reminding them, as you are in the world, keep your conduct good among the Gentiles, so they would have nothing evil to say about you. We are going to endure suffering. And Peter tells us, as elect exiles, if you endure suffering for good, that is for the glory of God. It's gracious in His sight. He sees us. But if we were to endure suffering for what's wrong, well, that's just right. This is a high calling. A people who set the bar of what Christ has said, what He has done, what He expects of us. We need to go back and remember why we can do this. Verse 11, the grace of God has appeared. There's a lot of commands here. As we look at these commands, we should realize we fall short. The law helps us see our sin. And so that's why we go back up and we say the grace of God has appeared to help us renounce this ungodliness, to renounce this worldly passion. put on Christ and His self-control, to live godly lives of the present age, to be a witness. The first way in which we can live this life is by being grateful for the grace of God that allows us to pursue these things. The second reason is God's glory will appear. We will be held accountable as Christians for every moment, for every word, for every deed. That doesn't mean we're going to suffer the wrath of God, but He disciplines us. There's a way in which He's going to give rewards for the good things, and we're going to hear, well done, good and faithful servant. We're also going to be recognizing before the glory of God, who has given us His grace, when and how we have not been faithful. He will return. Let us work. Let us labor. Let us love our neighbor. Let us conduct ourselves eager for His return, waiting for it, ready for every good work. Will you pray with me? Father Weasley, thank you for the clarity of your Word that not only tells us how you save us, but now how to live. You show us what's wrong with our lives apart from Christ, and now you show us how to live lives in Christ. Thank you for the good instructions. May you give us the grace we need to obey. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.