Remembering Where We’ve Come from

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Several years ago, I knew a lady who went off to college. She was a year or two older than I was. I guess she still is.

That doesn’t change, does it? But she went off to college and kind of came back a different person. And this happens, as I started thinking about this, I noticed this kind of happens as a plot point for a lot of movies or TV shows where somebody will come back home and they try to act better than everybody knows they really are, those who knew them growing up.

And this lady, she went off to college and she came back and started acting above her raising, as people would say. Everything was about her French philosophers she was reading and the German death metal music she was listening to. And, oh, you know, I love all these artists that you all couldn’t possibly know who they are.

And she just acted like she was super fancy. And I had to chuckle as I thought, we know your family and we know where you’re from. And you can act fancy like this, but we know who you really are.

We know where you’ve come from. Have you ever run across anybody like that? Don’t name names.

Don’t name names, especially if they’re here in the room. I doubt they are. But we’ve probably all known somebody like that in our lives.

And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with growing as a person. There’s nothing wrong with expanding your tastes. You know, I love classical music.

I love impressionist art. My wife and I will go to the art museum and look at it. But I’m also not ashamed to, you know, wear my overalls here to the office if I need to.

So there’s nothing wrong with growing and expanding your taste, but there’s something unsettling for the rest of us when somebody tries to act like they’ve forgotten where they came from. And sometimes we as Christians can come across that way if we’re not careful. We can come across to the world and to those who know us like we’ve forgotten where we came from.

And we can run the risk of alienating people in that way. Now as Christians, we should change and we do change. Hopefully you are not the same person you were before you came to Christ. As Christians, we should change.

There should be a noticeable change, especially over time. But if we forget where we’ve come from, if we start to believe our own press, and we start to think, oh, I really am such a good person, and I’ve always been such a good person, we start to think that we are just sinless perfection personified. If we forget where we’ve come from, we come across as arrogant, and we come across as pretentious, all those things that we don’t like about somebody who forgets where they come from, forgets where they came from, we run the risk of doing that spiritually, and people around us just think either we’re arrogant or, well, you know the things that they say about Christians.

And sometimes that reputation is not deserved, and sometimes that reputation is deserved, depending on how we act. The danger is that when we act like we forget where we’ve come from, spiritually, that we drive people further away from Jesus Christ. And in Titus chapter 3, Paul warns us to avoid that. He warns us to avoid this pretentiousness, this arrogance that comes with forgetting where we’ve come from.

And so if you would tonight, go ahead and turn with me to Titus chapter 3. You may already be headed there. Titus chapter 3, and if you would, when you get there, stand with me as we read together from God’s Word.

And we’re going to read Titus 3, starting in verse 1 and going through verse 7. And starting in verse 1, Paul says, Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And you may be seated there. Now, in this series on the second half of Titus, we’re looking at the witness of the church in the world, especially how our public face as believers in Jesus Christ portrays the gospel.

So for some people, especially if they’ve never been to church, if they have no church background, their understanding of the gospel, unfortunately, may be limited to what they see in us. Now, a simpler way of saying that is that expression you’ve probably all heard, that we may be the only Jesus some people ever see. And it’s unfortunate.

The way we live our lives should not be the only example that people have of Jesus. We should be making sure that people hear the gospel. But at the same time, there are people that their only familiarity with the gospel, their only familiarity with what Jesus does in the life of a believer is what they see in us.

And so Paul comes to Titus with some practical instructions for the churches in Crete of how they’re supposed to live that out, how they’re supposed to portray the gospel to a watching world. And in this passage, we’ll see that there’s some balance needed between the understanding of where God is taking us and the memory of where we were when He found us. And sometimes that’s the problem for us as Christians.

We have trouble finding the balance. Sometimes we can be so focused on where God has us and where God is taking us that we forget where we’ve been and we allow it to build into arrogance where we think we’ve just always been the super Christian. When I think in reality we realize, we should all realize that we’ve still got a long way to go.

But we may forget about that. On the other hand, there’s the equal and opposite danger. It says, I’m so focused on where I’ve been that I don’t even have sight of where God wants to take me.

I just think this is all there is, and so I’m never going to move past this point. Well, Paul, in this passage, encourages them to find this balance and encourages them not to forget where they’ve been. And I want to be very clear when I say not forgetting where you’ve been.

I don’t mean continuing to act the way you’ve always acted and continuing to live the way you’ve always lived. this is not telling us that we as Christians should 20 years in after following Jesus or 10 years in after following Jesus or even a year in after following Jesus that we should be living the exact same life we were before we came to Christ that that’s not true he does change us he does shape us over time to be more like him to be more of what he expects us to be this is really about and I’m giving away the ending here. This is about the humility as we follow Christ. The humility that we are supposed to demonstrate in that.

And this passage teaches us that there is a change that takes place in the life of a believer. There just should be. And I realize we sometimes get worked up in theological knots over that because there are all these debates about lordship salvation and easy grace.

And if we encourage people that they’ve got to change, are we telling them they’ve got to earn their salvation? And I just think we’re making it way too hard when we get wrapped up in those knots. The gospel is simple.

God intended the gospel to be simple. We make it complicated. But here it is, guys.

Jesus died for us because we were sinners and because we could not do anything to save ourselves. You and I are powerless to save ourselves. And so we come to Him and we receive salvation by God’s grace alone, through nothing that we deserve, by faith alone, through nothing that we have done to earn it.

We receive that salvation by grace through faith, and then He changes us. We can’t change ourselves, but God has sent His Holy Spirit to come take up residence inside of us once we belong to Jesus Christ, and that change is a natural result of the Holy Spirit coming to live inside of us. It is a natural result of the spiritual change that Jesus makes in us.

Oh, you’re saying, though, if somebody doesn’t change when they come to Christ, that the Bible just makes it too clear in too many places that we should bear fruit. There should be a discernible change. Not that we become perfect overnight, but there should be some noticeable change over time.

And if there’s not, go back and look and see whether you’ve truly been born again or not. I’m not saying that if the change isn’t rapid enough, you’re not saved. You’re not doing the right thing, so you’re not saved.

I’m saying go check. If there’s no change, deal with God and see if you really have been born again. That’s why I believe it was Peter said, examine yourselves, work out your salvation.

That’s not talking about working for our salvation. That’s talking about making sure, making sure that the change, that this conversion, this born again experience that we have with Jesus is really what we profess it to have been. So there is a change that takes place in the life of the believer.

It’s just a natural. For some people, it may be instantaneous. I’ve told you some of those stories about a friend of mine that says, yeah, the language was just gone like that. Other people, it takes years, and it’s slow, steady progress.

But the point is, there is some change. There’s change that takes place in the life of the believer. If the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, how can we help but be changed?

And he shows us this here in this passage with the contrast between who we were in the world and who we are in Christ. Because he describes in Christ being cleansed and being changed. But look at verse 3. He says we were.

This is who we were. We ourselves were also foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That describes the human condition apart from Jesus Christ. And I know there are people out there, even non-believers, who say, well, I’m not that bad.

You know, I don’t have any vices. I live a quiet life. I’m a good person.

I help others. But this is what is in our hearts. foolishness disobedience toward god even when we think well I don’t need jesus because I’m a good person that is disobedience and rebellion towards god because we’re expecting god to accept our definition of goodness instead of us bending to his disobedience and deceived serving various lusts and pleasures that means chasing after what seems right to us in the moment and just because occasionally what seems right to us coincides with what god says is right just because that sometimes happens.

And as they say, a blind pig finds a truffle once in a while, or a stopped clock is right twice a day, just because that happens sometimes by coincidence, doesn’t make us godly apart from Jesus Christ. Sometimes the lost world does get it right. But just because that occasionally happens, just because it occasionally happens, that cultural norms line up with what God said doesn’t make us right with God. Because we’re still sinners because of all those other times when what he says doesn’t match up with what we’re living.

Living in malice and envy, my goodness, my goodness, if we have ever doubted that there is malice and envy living and lurking in the heart of mankind. Look at the world around us in 2020. Look at the hatred that has been unleashed in our country between people and between groups of people because we think differently, because we talk differently, because we vote differently.

I saw a news story posted on Facebook last night where a major media figure was calling for people who disagreed on the other side of an issue, saying that they needed to be rounded up and eliminated from society. And I’m thinking, hello, Nazi Germany. I mean, that’s Hitler talk because we disagree about things.

There’s violence in our streets. And that comes from violence in the heart. There’s rage in the way people deal with each other, and that comes from anger in the heart.

There’s malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. And folks, it’s really nothing new. I look around at it and I say, how did we get to this point?

How did we get to this point where all of this stuff is happening? And I realize, if you go back like I had to do, back to the earliest chapters of Genesis chapter 3 and 4, it’s been there from the beginning. It’s just the mask is coming off.

I don’t know if it’s because of some shifts in our society, if it’s because social media has allowed the mask to come off. I don’t know what it is, but the Bible’s clear the darkness has been in the human heart all along. It’s always been there.

It’s just that what people used to hide in shame, they now brag about and bring out into the open. And he says that’s where we were. We were foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

We were that. Verse 4 says, but. Isn’t that a great word after a description like that?

We were those things, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. We were those things, but then the love of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God appeared. And you read the following verses and you see that now, while we were those things, in Christ, now we stand before God pure and holy.

Understand that that description in verse 3 is who we are by nature, but in Christ, that’s not what God sees. And that’s not what God concludes us to be any longer. So there is a change that takes place in the life of the believer, but the credit for that change does not belong to us.

And that’s where I think we get it twisted sometimes. we think well look at who I am look at who I’ve become that’s where we start to forget where we’ve come from and we think somehow we put ourselves in this position where we’re the we’ve made ourselves these godly christians we we dress up and we go to church and we give money and we you know we follow the ten commandments and we do all these things we try to take the credit for ourselves but the credit for the change doesn’t belong to us because we see in verse 5 that it has nothing to do with anything that we’ve earned or deserved. He talks about this in verse 4, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

Here’s what it says in verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done. He said all that mercy and all that kindness, all that forgiveness appeared not because of anything we’ve done to earn it or deserve it. On the contrary, everything good, everything good that we have spiritually is something we have received.

Not something we went out and made happen something we have received. It says in verse 5, we were saved. We didn’t save ourselves.

We were saved. We were washed. We were renewed.

Verse 7 says we were justified. Now, that’s a fancy word, but all it means is God wiped the slate clean. For us to be justified means that criminal record we have in heaven’s courtroom was expunged, and God said that it’s like it never happened.

We were justified and we were made heirs. Not because we deserve to be, not because we made it happen, but because God chose to adopt us in Jesus Christ. There is a change, both in where we stand before God and with the people that we are. But that change is not something that we get the credit for.

The credit for our change belongs to God because Jesus is the cause for it. God showed His love and kindness to us through Jesus at the cross. The cross is not the first place God ever showed kindness to man.

But the cross is the most important place that God ever showed His love and kindness toward man. And I’ve written about this in one of my books, that if it were not for the cross, all the other times that God had showed kindness to man wouldn’t really matter all that much, because it would just be God treating us nicely before we were separated from Him for eternity and hell. I mean, when you stack it up against eternity and hell, what do a few moments of temporary pleasure here on earth, what do they matter?

Instead, it is the cross that is the ultimate, first of all, it was the ultimate cost to God. He gave His only begotten Son for us. But it was also the ultimate expression of His love because it showed how deeply He loved us, that He was willing to sacrifice His Son for people who did not deserve it, for people who were at that time, according to Romans chapter 5, the enemies of God, that He was willing to love us and demonstrate that love.

Not just say, I love you, but show it in a way that cost Him something, and in a way that accomplished something for us that we desperately needed and could never do for ourselves. And it’s in light of the cross, it’s in light of the cross that all those other instances of the kindness of God matter. The most important thing God ever did to show His love to us was sending Jesus, sending Jesus to die on the cross.

Romans says God commended his love toward us. He demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, we were still sinners. We were still alienated from God and Christ died for us.

And in John 3, 16, when it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That word so contrary to the way I’ve seen it translated, it does not mean this is how much He loved us. Although you can draw that conclusion.

What that word, when it says, for God so loved the world, it’s not talking about a quantity. It’s talking about this is the way that God loved us. This was His demonstration of His love for us.

God showed His love and kindness to us through Jesus at the cross and our salvation and all the changes that accompany it. Those things were all due to the mercy of God rather than our good works. I mean, he says it was not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.

We’ve got to remember that when we start to think, well, I’m a good person. I’m this super Christian and I just always have been. No, no. God says, look at who you used to be.

Look at where you were when I found you. Look at who you were. Remember who you were when I found you.

Because otherwise we start to give ourselves the credit for being good people when really the credit belongs to Jesus for making us into not only what we are now, but what we will be. God through Jesus gave us the grace that wiped our slate clean and brought us eternal life according to verses 6 and 7. His Holy Spirit, He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

See, He’s changed where we stand with Him. He’s changed where we’re headed. He’s changed who we are.

He gets the credit for all of this. And He gave us His Holy Spirit to come and live inside of us. And as a result of having the Holy Spirit there, He gives us spiritual life, and He transforms us day by day into what we’re supposed to be.

And when we look at that, we realize, when we think of where we have come from, where we were when God found us, and we compare that to where we are now, and who we are now in Christ, we realize that He deserves all the credit. for the change in us. And when we realize that, when we realize all of that, when we keep in mind where we’ve come from, again, remembering where we’ve come from doesn’t mean we still have to live there anymore.

But remembering where we’ve come from creates a humility in us that gives him the credit. The gospel causes changes in our lives. It just does.

I know I’ve already hit on that tonight. It should create a growing sense of holiness that we’re no longer the things that we used to be, that we’re leaving those things behind. As God moves us forward to be more like Jesus, we’re leaving those things behind and we’re growing instead to be more like Him.

And if we’re not seeing any changes, as I told you earlier, it’s an indicator that we might need to go back and re-examine the genuineness of our conversion. We should be growing in holiness as a result of the Gospel. You should be closer to being what Jesus Christ wants you to be tomorrow than you were today.

And you should be closer to it today than you were yesterday. There should be this growth in holiness, but this growth in holiness should also be accompanied by a growth in humility because a proper understanding of the gospel prevents us from being able to boast about any of it. Yes, there’s a change.

Yes, I’m better than I used to be, but He gets the credit for it. We understand there’s nothing in us inherently that makes us better than anyone else. And sometimes we forget that.

And folks, that’s not us being good Christians. That’s the flesh lying to us. I was walking through Walmart.

I left early. Don’t ever go into Walmart without the Holy Spirit, all right? Not that I did, but it’s hard enough even going with the Holy Spirit.

I left early to come up here early, and I left earlier than that to run by Walmart because I needed some things for the yard for tomorrow. And, oh my goodness, there were people screaming at each other in Walmart. That’s one of my pet peeves when families scream at each other in public.

Do it at home. not really don’t don’t do it at home either but they just scream at each other and I was trying to I was wandering around the garden center trying to find a sprayer I still can’t find my pump sprayers uh from the move and so I needed one found one but while I was wandering around looking for it there were these there was this couple and they were just screaming at each other from one aisle to the next they were just going back and forth at each other cuss words words I’d never heard And I’m not going to repeat them here. And I just, you know, there was a moment in me when I’m looking at the way some of these people were acting in Walmart and thinking, man, I’m sure glad I’m not them or not like them.

Then I felt the Holy Spirit tell me, you knock that off. Because that’s exactly who you would be if it weren’t for me. Okay, he’s right.

For a moment, there was a sliver of this thought that I’m better than these people. Because I don’t call my wife or whatever that was or however you pronounce it. She’d deck me if I did.

There was a moment of thinking, of that puffed up pride of thinking, well, I’m better than these people. No. No, when you get down to who I am at the core, I’m a sinner just like them.

If there’s any improvement in who I am, it’s because of Jesus. And instead of looking down at these people, I’d be talking to them about Jesus, praying for them at the very least. I wasn’t going to go chase this couple down. Wasn’t sure what would have happened.

But when you recall where you were, where you’ve come from, and who gets the credit for where you are now, it’ll make you more humble in dealing with people. It’ll make you more humble in dealing with people. And it’ll help you give the credit to Jesus that He deserves for the change that He’s made in us.

And when we give the credit to Jesus, something incredible happens. People know it’s not true, and they don’t like it. when we walk around taking credit for being such good people, it’s annoying to them.

Like that lady that came back acting like she’d never grown up in that little town in Oklahoma. Just as that’s irritating, the world gets irritated with us when we’re self-righteous or think we are. But there’s something powerful about giving Jesus the credit He deserves for what He’s done in us.

It takes us out of the equation. It forces people to deal with Jesus. And it helps them see if Jesus can transform them from that in verse 3 to what he describes in the later verses.

If he could do that for us, there’s no reason he couldn’t do that for them. And it goes right along with one of the passages I read this morning where Jesus said, if the Son of Man is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all men to himself. I firmly believe that when Jesus is glorified, he will draw people to himself.

And when we give him the credit he deserves, when we remember where we’ve come from and quit trying to take the credit for ourselves and give Him the credit He deserves for the change that He’s made in us. When we glorify Jesus in that way, I believe it will draw our friends and neighbors to Jesus Christ.